Revenge won't Help
by YamiKokoro
Summary: Kairi's parents were brutally murdered by Hao many years ago. She joins the X-Laws, seeking revenge. When her loyalty is questioned, she has to decide between the life and death of her new friends. OCxRen, but not very romancey.
1. Where am I?

YamiKokoro: Hi guys! I proudly present a new story! This time, it will not have a page that describes the OC, but you'll figure it out when you read it. So, this story is a RenxOC story, but it will also have MacchixOC and HaoxOC. So... I decided to make this X-Law style (even though I despise them deeply) because I've seen many stories with an OC that starts with Hao, but falls in love with someone in Yoh's group. So this will be with X-Laws instead of Hao.

Here are some things to know:

1) Lyserg is already with the X-Laws.

2) I expect you to know what a Shaman is and what the Shaman Fight is and basic stuff like that.

3) I am not to be blamed if this contains spoilers.

4) I do not own Shaman King. It belongs to Hiroyuki Takei

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><p>Kairi was walking down the cold, wet ground in Tokyo. Her long brown hair was matted down onto her forehead from the heavy rain. Her bright orange t-shirt looked gray in the evening. The thin black scarf tied around her waist didn't provide any extra warmth. She was dripping wet from her head to her toes, which were squeezed into shoes tiny gray shoes. They were much too small for her, and so old that they were on the verge of falling apart. She was cold. And hungry. And she had no place to stay. She stepped into another puddle and more cold water splashed onto her ankles.<p>

_So tired…_ Kairi thought. Her eyelids felt heavier and heavier, until at last, she could not keep them up anymore. They closed, and she hit the hard ground.

* * *

><p>Lyserg walked along the sidewalk in Tokyo to get the groceries for the rest of his team. The rain didn't bother the green-haired boy. His white X-Laws uniform worked as a raincoat, so his body won't be wet. Except for his face of course. But Lyserg enjoyed the feeling of the cool, wet rain softly drop on his cute face. Suddenly, Morphine (who was sitting on his shoulder, under his hair to stay dry) flew out of her 'seat'.<p>

"Huh? What is it, Morphine?" Lyserg asked his spirit ally. The little pink fairy flew over to a gray lump a few meters away, and beckoned Lyserg to her. He walked towards his trusted ally.

"Morphine! It's- it's a person!" he exclaimed. He kneeled down to get a better view of him/her. Morphine gazed at Lyserg with hopeful eyes.

"Of course I'll help this person, Morphine! That's what Jeanne-sama and Marco taught me, remember? To take care of those in need." Lyserg said cheerfully, forgetting about the groceries. He picked up the figure onto his back and slowly returned to the X-Laws base (A/N: I can't say where… It's top secret.)

* * *

><p>Kairi slowly opened her eyes. She felt different. It wasn't cold here- except for her dripping wet clothes. And it wasn't dark. No, the place- wherever she was- was light rather well. Kairi realized that she was lying down on something soft and fluffy- a bed. She rubbed her eyes and sat up.<p>

"Where am I…?" She asked herself.

"You're in the X-Laws base." A deep, manly voice said. Kairi jumped up. She was not expecting anyone to answer, let alone a man!

"Don't be scared. We're here to help you." A kinder voice said. She turned around and looked behind her. There, were many people- around 10- all dressed in the same, pure white uniform-dress-like-thing. The kind voice was coming from a short woman with short dirty-blonde hair.

Kairi just stared at them for a while. No one said anything.

"Who are you people, and why did you kidnap me?" Kairi said after a while, gathering up all of her courage just to say that much.

"Everyone… Ready… Set… GO!" A tall man with blond hair and shiny glasses said. All at once, each and every person present- except for Kairi, of course- jumped up and spread out their legs and arm, creating an 'X' with their bodies.

"We are the X-Laws! X means 10! Laws means God's sacred Laws! Together, we are the X-Laws!" They yelled at once. After they finished their little 'speech', they stopped talking, but stayed in that position. Kairi blinked a few times at them.

"Now, now, Marco. We don't want to scare the child." A young, feminine voice said from somewhere else.

"Ah, yes, Jeanne-sama. Please excuse me." The blond guys with glasses, who Kairi guessed is Marco, said.

Kairi followed all of their gazes. She saw a young person, maybe a year older than herself pushing an iron thing on wheels. The person had green hair and was wearing the same outfit that everyone else was- the white uniform.

_That's strange… It looks like a guy… But that voice! It was definitely a girl's! _Kairi thought.

Suddenly, the iron thing opened… and out came… A person! It was a young girl, also around Kairi's age. She had long, wavy silver hair, purple pajama pants and no top whatsoever. She was also covered in blood.

"Hello, Kairi. I'm Jeanne. It's good to see that you're awake." Jeanne said, stepping out of the coffin thing. Kairi was relieved to know that the feminie voice belonged to that strange girl, and not the green-haired boy.

"Wait… How do you know my name?" Kairi yelled.

"You were talking in your sleep." Jeanne responded. She smiled at Kairi.

"And what am I doing here?" Kairi asked, not trusting these people much.

"Lyserg was out getting groceries, and he found you. He says that you were unconscious on the sidewalk, so he carried you here." Jeanne said. "Oh, and you must be looking for this…"

"Here. She's really cute." Lyserg said, revealing a bat. The bat flew to Kairi. She welcomed the bat with open arms.

"Oh! Risa! I was so worried!" Kairi cried hugging the bat. After a while of hugging, Risa flew up, to be just above of Kairi's shoulder.

"Wait… so that means you guys are also Shamans?" Kairi asked the "X-Laws".

"Yes. How did you think that we knew that Risa was a spirit?" Marco asked.

"So, Kairi. Will you join us?" Jeanne asked.

"Join you? Why?" Kairi asked.

"For the Shaman Fight. Risa told us (A/N: she told Morphine, who translated it) that your mother and father were slaughtered by Hao." Jeanne said.

"Yeah… what about it?" Kairi asked. She didn't really remember her parents; she was too young to truly remember.

"The X-Laws are people who truly believe in God, and our only goal is to defeat Hao." Lyserg said. Kairi smiled and nodded.


	2. The Test Part 1

Hi people! Hm... does anyone read this? Too bad, I'll write it anyway :P

So... thanks for the reviews (for those who reviewed). And sorry if this chapter is a bit confusing. I'm not very good at writing fighting scenes. And hopefully, Yoh and the others will appear in the next chapter. Or maybe not.

Oh, and does anyone know what Ryu's last name is? That would help, thanks.

And once again, I do NOT own Shaman King. You know who it belongs to. That's right! Hiroyuki Takei!

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><p>Two months passed by. Kairi got her own white X-Laws uniform (but with a black sash instead of a white one), a blue oracle bell and a lot of instructions and training lessons. All of the X-Laws said that Kairi looked a lot like Jeanne, except for her hair and eye color. Her anger for Hao grew incredibly over the long lessons of his history, and why he needs to be punished. She became really good friends with Lyserg and Meene, who treated her the kindest of all. Kairi tried to stay away from Kevin as much as possible. His mask really scared her. As for Jeanne… she didn't show herself very often to Kairi. Marco, however, seemed to dislike Kairi with all his heart. He would always give her hard lessons and grade her strictly. His slaps seemed to leave a red mark on her face for at least a day.<p>

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><p>"Kairi. Kairi. KAIRI!" Marco yelled, walking Kairi up from her daydream.<p>

"What is it, Marco?" She asked, sitting up taller.

"I think it's about time to test your strength." He said, pushing his glasses up.

"Test… my strength?" Kairi asked. She had no idea what he meant, and it bothered her greatly that she couldn't. Every since the X-Laws took her in, she felt in debt to them, and wanted to do every single thing right. Even for Marco.

"Yes. I want you to go with Lyserg, and find these Shamans. I'm pretty sure you can defeat them with ease. But I only want YOU to fight; Lyserg is simply there to help you find them." Marco said.

"I understand!" Kairi yelled, standing up and pushing in her chair. "Risa, let's go!"

* * *

><p>Lyserg was already waiting for her at the door, with Morphine and his pendulum out.<p>

"Ready, Kairi?" He asked. She nodded as they walked outside together.

The sun was shining brightly, completely opposite of the day two months ago, when he found Kairi.

"Morphine! In pendulum!" Lyserg cried, oversouling into the crystal pendulum. He pointed it at the street, and the pendulum stuck out straight, showing the way to the shamans. "This way."

They walked to Rose street, and finally walked up to one of the houses. It was bright pink with a light blue roof. Kairi opened the purple door, and they walked straight in, not bothering to take their shoes off. There wasn't much furniture. Only a sofa, some chairs and a table. There wasn't even a TV. It seemed to serve only for the basic life.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Kairi cried. Her voice echoed in the almost empty house. No one answered. Kairi and Lyserg looked at each other and shrugged.

"Let's check upstairs." Lyserg suggested. They walked up the old, wooden steps opened a door in the hallway. There were 5 pink beds in the room, and on each of the beds sat a woman.

"Who's there?" A tall, blonde woman asked.

"Um…. It's Kairi and Lyserg." Kairi said.

"Actually, you're supposed to say 'We're the X-Laws! X!" Lyserg whispered. Kairi's face turned bright red.

"Sorry. I forgot." She whispered back.

"Stop whispering, and tell me what you want, 'Kairi and Lyserg'! Anyway… We're the Lilly Five!" The tall one said again.

"Sorry. We're here to ambush you." Kairi said, untying her black sash. She knotted it in 3 different places, so it became a swingy thing with 3 different knots.

"Risa! In sash!" She yelled, pushing her spirit bat into the black sash.

Immediately, 2 knives appeared into each of the knots, with only the sharp parts sticking out. She threw it at the blonde woman., who barley managed to dodge it. The sash suddenly grew bat wings, and flew back to Kairi's hand.

"What do you think you're doing, attacking a helpless, beautiful shaman like myself!" She asked in disgust.

"Sorry. This is my test." Kairi stated, and threw the sash again. It hit her in the back, and pushed her on the ground. She fell unconscious.

"LEADER! SHARONA!" The remaining women (and little girl) cried.

"Why did you do that?" A teenage girl yelled.

"I told you. It's my test to become a qualified X-Law." Kairi said, and threw the sash at the teenage girl. She also fell to the ground, unconsciously.

"Ellie!" The remaining girls yelled.

"Everyone! At once!" A nerdy girl said, oversouling into her glasses.

"All right! Lilly! Sally!" the little girl yelled.

"It's no use. I'm far too strong for you." Kairi said calmly, and threw her sharp sash once more. It hit the child, and she fell on the floor.

"Milly!" Lilly (the nerdy girl) yelled, and tried to attack Kairi from the back. The sash however, grew bat wings once more and hit Lilly square in the back. She fell to the floor with a loud 'thump!'

"Last one." Kairi said, catching her sash once more. She walked over to the last woman, Sally, and smacked her with her sash. Like all of her companions, Sally fell to the floor.

Kairi stared at the floor full of unconscious shamans. Risa, her spirit, stopped being an Oversoul and floated next to Kairi.

"You did well, Kairi. Jeanne-sama will be happy." Lyserg said, smiling and patting Kairi on the back.

"You think so?" Kairi asked, immediately lighting up. She undid the knots on her sash, and re-tied it onto her X-Laws uniform.

"Of course." Lyserg said, smiling. They walked out of the house, and onto the road.

As they walked towards the X-Law's secret base, they received many strange looks from passerby's. Especially Kairi. Her X-Law's uniform was stained red in a few places.

* * *

><p>"Jeanne-sama, I did it. I took out those shamans." Kairi said, kneeling before the Iron Maiden.<p>

"Very well, Kairi. You're almost a full X-Law." Jeanne said happily, from inside her iron coffin.

"Almost? I thought this was the test." Kairi asked, confused.

"It was. But those shamans were extremely weak. You have to defeat these people to prove you're ready for anything." Jeanne said.

"And then will I become a full X-Law?" Kairi asked hopefully.

"Yes. You'll become a full X-Law." Jeanne said.

"I understand! Please, Jeanne-sama, give me the names of those shamans! I will defeat them!" Kairi said, pressing her fist to her chest. Her face was full of determination.

"Very well. Here are the names and address. They should be in the same house." Jeanne said. Marco stepped out of the shadows and handed Kairi a small piece of paper.

"I expect it to be done in a week or less." Marco said coldly.

**_The Asakura Inn_**

**_Asakura Yoh_**

**_Usei HoroHoro_**

**_Wooden Sword Ryu_**

**_Tao Ren_**


	3. The Test Part 2

Hi! What's up? I'm back! Anyway... Here's the new chapter! And like I said before... I do not own Shaman King. Or Delphi. Delphi belongs to Pseudonym is Anyonymous. She's from her story _Wish_ (which is great! Go read it if you haven't already!) and yes, I do have her permission to have Delphi in this story.

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><p>Three days later, Lyserg couldn't find Kairi. He looked in her room, in the dining room and he even asked Jeanne-sama. But he couldn't find Kairi. He went outside, and decided to clear his head in the fresh air.<p>

_Her opponents are strong… If she loses, will Jeanne-sama really deny her the honor of being a X-Law? Or… maybe she won't come back with her life!_ Lyserg thought as he walked.

He didn't realize where he was going, but eventually he ended up on a grassy green hill. There were a few leafy trees there, all of them very thick. But through the thick, dark green leaves he saw a flash of white and brown.

"Kairi?" He asked.

"…Lyserg?" a voice said. He walked behind the tree and sure enough, there she was. Kairi was leaning against the tree trunk, the wind blowing her long brown hair.

"I was looking for you." Lyserg said, smiling. He sat down next to her.

"Really? I, um, was just here." She said. They sat in silence for a while.

"Are you scared?" Lyserg finally asked. "About the fight, I mean."

"…" Kairi didn't say anything.

_It's as if she doesn't want to open up to me._

"Lyserg… are they strong? Those people on my list?" Kairi asked after a few minutes of silence.

"They're stronger than your previous opponents, that's for sure. But I saw your power- you should be able to handle them." Lyserg said reassuringly.

"…" Kairi stared at the sky with no expression on her face. Minutes passed.

"I wasn't fighting with half of my furyoku." Kairi said.

"Th-that wasn't even half of your furyoku?" Lyserg asked with wide eyes. He didn't know how to handle this. Kairi looked at him.

"I use up the other half to aim." She said.

'Wait- what?" Lyserg asked. What did she mean by _aim_?

"I, uh, have very bad accuracy. But Risa fights best in the sash-knife mode best. So when I throw the weapon, I have to use up a lot of my furyoku to get it to hit the target." Kairi said quietly.

"But that's still a lot of furyoku." Lyserg said.

"…" Another minute or two passed by in silence.

"How old is Jeanne?" Kairi asked, "Jeanne-sama, I mean."

"10. Why do you ask?" Lyserg asked.

"No reason… But she looks around my age, and I'm two years older. Why is she in that Iron Maiden all the time?" Kairi asked.

"Marco raised her that way. You do realize she's adopted, right?" Lyserg said.

"She is? So where is she from, then? She's not from here, that's for sure. Maybe… England?" Kairi said.

"France." Lyserg replied.

_Oh. I was born in France._

After a few more minutes of silence, Kairi stood up. She dusted her white pants off, but they were stained green from the grass.

"Bye, Lyserg." She said and walked away. Poor Lyserg was left on the hill alone, watching the clouds.

_Is she hiding something? Or is she always so quiet?_ Lyserg thought.

Kairi ran back to her room in the X-Laws hideout. She grabbed the piece of paper with her opponents' names on it, and ran out again.

"Let's go, Risa!" She said, and they left together.

It was really bright and warm that afternoon. She walked down the street until she finally found a map of the area around her.

"Let's see… Asakura Inn… Oh! There it is!" She said happily, pointing to the place on the map.

She walked down the street and turned down a corner. She walked down the dusty road. There were only a few houses there. Maybe two or three.  
><em>"Let's see… the Fujimoto Inn… Nope!"<em> Kairi thought and walked past the house.

"_The Asakura Inn… Nope!" _Kairi thought and walked past the house. Risa, however, stopped.

"Hnnn!" She let out a bat noise. (A/N: I don't know what noises bats make…)

"What is it, Risa? Can't you see that I'm trying to find the Asakura Inn?" Kairi snapped. She looked at her bat.

"Hnn!" Risa said as she floated over to the sign that said 'The Asakura Inn'.

"Oh… Thanks!" Kairi said as she walked back.

She entered through the garden and knocked on the door. Almost immidiatley, a girl around Kairi's age opened the door.

"Welcome to the future Funbari Onsen." She said. She had shoulder length light brown hair with a red bandana around her head. She had a short black dress on, with a beaded blue necklace around her neck. Her facial expression was cold.

"Hi! I'm Kai- wait! Sorry! That's not what I'm supposed to say! What was it again…? That's right! I'm the X-Laws! X-Laws!" Kairi yelled. Risa shook her head sadly. (A/N: Yes, I do realize she says 'I'm the X-Law**s**)

"That's not it, either… Oh well. I'm coming in, if you don't mind." Kairi said as she pushed the girl aside.

The girl stayed there, not doing anything. No one in her life had ever had the courage to push past her like that.

Kairi walked inside the house, and there she saw 6 people sitting around the tea table. There were 5 boys and 1 girl.

The girl was short, maybe around 90cm. She had bright red hair and lightl blue eyes. The girl was wearing a dark blue jumper and white pants.

The boy sitting next to her was a bit shorter than the girl. He had fluffy light brown hair and a typical Japanese school uniform on (white button-up shirt with a dark green tie and dark green pants).

Seated beside the boy was another boy- or rather, a man. He was much older than the rest of the people here, maybe around 18. His hair was very strange. It was long and black and sticking out in front of his face. His clothes were extremely unfashionable. They were white and purple, and possibly made for bad dancing.

The boy sitting next to him looked the most normal. He had ordinary dark brown hair and bright orange headphones. He wore the same Japanese school uniform as the smaller boy, but with his shirt unbuttoned. And instead of the tie, he had a necklace on.

The 5th boy had spiky blue hair and a bandana on his forehead. He was wearing a winter coat even though the day was bright and warm. Under his arm was a snowboard, which Kairi thought was completely useless here in Japan.

The last boy had dark purple hair. The top was styled into a huge spike. His clothes seemed to come from a special private school, since they were yellow.

As Kairi entered the room, all of the people turned to look at her.

"Um, are you Asakura Yoh, Usei HoroHoro, Bokuto no Ryu and Tao Ren?" She asked reading off the paper.

The headphones guy, snowboard guy, out-of-style guy and spiky guy nodded.

"Then… who are you?" She asked pointing to the other two, getting completely off topic.

"I'm Delphi Forsyth. But here in Japan it Forsyth Delphi, right? Japan is so confusing!" The red headed girl said, smiling.

"I'm Oyamada Manta." The short boy said.

"Um-hm. I'm Kairi- I mean, the X-Laws! X! Anyway, I'm sorry. I'm going to have to take you out." Kairi said, untying her sash.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Take us out where? To dinner?" Yoh asked. Kairi smacked her face.

"No, you idiot! I'm going to fight you!" She yelled.


	4. The Test 3rd and Final Part

Hi people! Again! Guess what? I don't own Shaman King! Hiroyuki Takei does! You knew that already? o_O Stalker!

Sorry... I'm kinda hyper. If you're bored, please go see Pseudo and my story: Epicly Unnamed Q&A!

And yeah, the first line is from the last chapter. but it's only the first one. ^^

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><p>"No, you idiot! I'm going to fight you!" Kairi yelled. She twisted her sash into three knots.<p>

"Risa!" She yelled, and pushed her spirit bat into the sash. Once again, two sharp knives appeared in every knot.

"No! Please don't fight!" Delphi yelled.

"Sorry, orders." Kairi smirked.

"No! If you fight- if you fight, you'll be faced with a horrible decision later on! You won't achieve what you want, even if you do fight!" Delphi said, closing her eyes.

"Huh? How do you know? Meh, I don't care. I have orders to fight." Kairi said, and swung her sash at the Elvis styled guy- Ryu.

It hit him square in the chest, and he fell onto the floor.

"Ryu!" Yoh and Manta yelled.

The sash grew bat wings and flew back to Kairi and into her hands.

"H-how did you do that?" The blue haired guy- HoroHoro asked in shock. Kairi just smirked.

"Now, are you going to fight me seriously or not?" She asked, preparing to throw again.

The rest of the shamans jumped up. Yoh took out a sword.

"Amidamaru! Let's do this!" He yelled, and pushed his samurai spirit into the sword.

HoroHoro picked up his snowboard.

"Kororo! In snowboard!" He yelled and pushed his cute spirit into the snowboard.

The boy with the spiky hair- Ren- took out a weapon. It unfolded, and revealed to be a Kwan Dao.

"Bason!" He cried, and Oversouled. Kairi just smiled.

"If you have to fight, wouldn't it be better to fight outside?" Delphi asked. Everyone stared at the girl. The nodded and everyone walked outside.

"OK! Now, let's get serious!" Kairi yelled, and threw her weapon at the headphones kid. He managed to duck just barley.

The sash flew back to Kairi.

"Whew. I almost died there." Yoh said, standing up.

"It's not my style to fight a girl…" HoroHoro started.

"But too bad!" Ren yelled, and ran at Kairi from the back. He swung his weapon at her.

She jumped up and landed on the Kwan Dao.

"Ahh!" She yelled and lost her balance. Kairi fell to the floor and hit her head.

Ren walked over and pointed his Kwan Dao at Kairi.

"Get out, before I kill you." He hissed. Kairi smirked.

"Nope!" She said, and she got up. The Kwan Dao would've sliced through her, if the shadow wasn't there. It was a hard, black shield-like thing, floating just a few centimeters above of Kairi's whole body. It pushed the Kwan Dao aside, and let Kairi stand up.

"W-what was that?" Manta asked.

"You mean my shield? It's made entirely from shadows, and nothing on earth can cut through it." Kairi said. She didn't tell them that it took up almost all of her Furyoku. No, that would give her a disadvantage. She had to make them think it was really easy.

"Y-you can control shadows?" Manta asked again.

"Yup! That's something I could do ever since I was found on the streets." Kairi said..

"Nice trick, but that won't stop us!" HoroHoro yelled and ran towards Kairi. Many huge icicles grew out of the ground, surrounding Kairi.

_Damn… I'll have to use more Furyoku to break through… And I'm running low… _Kairi thought.

Kairi threw her sash at the biggest icicle and it broke down with a loud _crack! _Her Oversoul flew back to her once more.

"You think that can stop me?" She laughed.

"No, but this will!" Yoh cried. "Amidamaru… Buttagiri!"

The attack hit Kairi in the stomach. She fell on her back and gasped for air. Yoh walked over to her and pointed Harusame at her.

_Shit… I have to use my aiming Furyoku for fighting…_ Kairi thought.

Kairi threw her sash at Yoh. Thankfully, he was close, so the attack hit him and he fell to the ground. Kairi grabbed the sash, jumped up and ran a few meters away form Yoh.

_Just two more to go… _Kairi thought. _But it'll be harder. And I don't have enough Furyoku for my Oversoul to come back to me. I'll have to run over and take it._

Kairi aimed her Oversoul at HoroHoro, and threw it with all her might. Unfortunatley, it hit Manta, who wasn't actually that close to HoroHoro.

"Uwaah!" Manta cried, and fell on the grass.

"Manta!" Delphi yelled. Yoh, who regained consciousness at the name of his friend, cried his name, too. He couldn't get up, though. Delphi stared at Kairi.

"I'm sorry, OK? I was aiming at HoroHoro!" She yelled.

"HEY!" HoroHoro yelled.

"Well… do you have a band-aid?" She asked Kairi. Kairi reached into her pocket and handed Delphi the bunny band-aid. Delphi accepted it and stuck it onto Manta's stomach.

"Problem solved! Don't mind him, continue your fight!" Delphi said happily. Everyone except Delphi and Manta (who was unconscious) sweat dropped.

"I don't think that's very effective…" Yoh said.

"Don't let your guard down!' Ren yelled, and started to run towards Kairi.

She knew she couldn't defend herself, especially since her Oversoul was next to Manta. So Kairi ran. Ran over to Manta. Ren ran after her, and it seemed that HoroHoro got the idea. He started running over to Manta as well, and he reached there just a few seconds after Kairi. She was surrounded. On the left- HoroHoro. On the right- Ren. And behind her- Delphi, although Kairi was pretty sure that she wouldn't try to attack her. Kairi ducked down and picked up her sash quickly. She had just a few more seconds before her Furyoku ran out. She held onto the sash tight, and extended her arms infront of her. She spun around many times, and very quickly. Eventually, the knives hit both HoroHoro and Ren, and they fell to the ground as well. As she finished spinning, the sash flew out of her hands. It flew to Delphi, and hit her on the head. The red headed girl fell to the ground.

Kairi was exhausted. She had no more Furyoku. The grass was littered with the unconscious bodies of people she hardly knew. And two of them weren't even on her list. Risa flew out of the sash, undoing the Oversoul.

"Let's go, Risa." Kairi said, smiling. She tied the sash back around her waist and headed towards the X-Laws base. She did it. She was qualified as an X-Law.

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><p>Man! I didn't realize what time it is! And I have school tomorrow... Bye! Thanks for reading!<p> 


	5. Catch Me

Hi again! Hehehe... I like writing this. Maybe no one reads it, but it's fun to write it ^^

Anyway... I forced myself to write this now. It's late and I have to wake up early... but oh well.

I know it might sound weird, but I don't really like the X-Laws all that much. They're OK, but not really my favorite. And I don't like Marco. So he will probably be a bit meaner that he actually is, OK?

* * *

><p>Kairi knelt before the Iron Maiden. She was still tired, and bruised here and there. But becoming a X-Law was extremely important right now.<p>

"I've done it, Jeanne-sama." Kairi said quietly. Risa floated over Kairi, slightly worried.

"Congratulations, Kairi." Jeanne said from inside the Iron Maiden. "You are now one of us. We're happy that you'll join us in the Shaman Fight."

Kairi beamed at the comment and raised her head slightly. She looked over at Lyserg, who smiled happily at her. Marco, however, didn't look pleased. He pushed his glasses back up his nose, and walked to Jeanne with a faceless expression.

_Geez, he must really hate me… but why? I didn't do anything wrong… did I?_ Kairi thought as she got up.

"Jeanne-sama, I think it would be best for you to get some rest now. It's late, and we must prepare to leave for the Shaman Fight in a few days." Marco said to the Iron Maiden.

"You're right, Marco. Let's go. Good night, everyone. Good night, Kairi." Jeanne said, as Marco wheeled her away. The rest of the X-Laws followed, and all went into their rooms.

Kairi skipped to her room happily. She entered and walked over to her bed. The brunette smiled once more, before collapsing on the soft mattress. She fell asleep instantly, in her uniform and all.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

Ryu rubbed his head as he sat up. He was still in front of the TV, and he heard music coming from it.

"You're awake." Anna said. Ryu turned his head around to look at her. She was lying in front of the TV, eating rice crackers.

"Wh-what happened?" Ryu asked. He was extremely puzzled. "Last thing I remember was… it was that cute girl! She came and attacked us!"

Anna nodded. Ryu jumped up, worrying about his friends.

"They're outside. Apparently, only time can wake them up." Anna said, not even bothering to look at Ryu.

Ryu nodded and ran outside. As soon as he laid his eyes on the lawn filled with his unconscious friends, he ran to Yoh.

"It's no use. There's something that keeps them unconscious for sometime." Anna said, standing against the doorway. Ryu nodded.

"But, Okami… shouldn't we at least take them inside?" Ryu asked Anna.

"No. They can stay outside. It's good training for the Shaman Fight." Anna said and turned away.

"How about Manta and Delphi?" Ryu asked, slightly worried about his friends.

"…Too bad."

* * *

><p><strong>Sometime in the middle of the night…<strong>

"Ahh! What am I doing here?" HoroHoro yelled, jumping up. He was standing on the wet grass in the darkness, and he didn't remember a single thing. His clothes were wet and dirty from the ground, and he was cold and hungry.

"YAWN…" Yoh yawned (A/N: No, really.) and stretched his arms. "That was a nice nap."

"Wh-what happened?" Delphi asked, rubbing her head.

"That X girl attacked us." Ren said coldly.

"The next time I see her, I'm going to make sure she regrets ever messing with the great HoroHoro!" The Ainu yelled heroically. No one said anything for a long time. Finally, Delphi crawled over to where Manta was, or rather, where she thought he was- it was impossible to tell in the dark.

"Manta. Manta. Are you OK?" She asked and poked him. Manta stirred.

"Hmm? Where am I?" He asked. He looked at Delphi. "Oh! Is this another Delphi dream? Hehe… Those are fun…"

Everyone stared at Manta.

"I don't know what you mean, but this is not a dream." Delphi said. Manta felt his face turn hot, and he was sure it was bright red, too. Thankfully, it was too dark for anyone to see.

"I'm not going to sit here any longer, I'm going back inside!" HoroHoro announced. He stood up.

"What? Already? I want to go back to my nap…" Yoh complained.

"Yoh! This is not the time for this!" Ren snapped.

"This will be a long night…" Manta said.

* * *

><p><strong>A few days later… The day everyone leaves for America<strong>

Kairi followed Marco closely, along with the other X-Laws. Everyone in the group had a small bag, which contained another white uniform and some clean underwear. Kairi was wearing her uniform once again, and was skipping happily. Only then, did she feel like she was truly a part of the X-Laws.

Soon enough, everyone got onto the huge Patch Plane. All of the X-Laws sat in the same place- rows 10, 11 and 12. Kairi was seated between Lyserg and Marco. The Iron Maiden was placed on a seat as well, but it stuck out awkwardly.

Kairi glanced out of the windows excitedly, aweing at the sight of the fluffy clouds passing by. She couldn't be any happier than she was now, except for maybe Hao. He wasn't really doing anything, but every few minutes, Marco or another X-Law would turn around a glare at Hao, who only waved. After a few hours of watching this routine, Kairi started getting drowsy. Her eyelids felt heavy and all of her thinking was muddled up.

"_We are the X-Hao's! X! We will defeat the source of all evil, Law! He killed my parents and stole my ice cream…" _Kairi thought. She was getting more and more confused, until at last, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Kairi woke up in the air. She had no idea what was going on, or what happened to the plane. She looked around, and found all of the Shamans and their belongings in the same place as they were.<p>

_It seems the plane turned invisible… Very smart…_ Kairi thought. She still wasn't thinking correctly.

But soon, Kairi realized, that she was in fact, falling. There was no floor to keep her up. She was about to scream, when something grabbed Kairi's hand. She looked up; it was Meene, the nice woman in the X-Laws who grabbed her hand. Meene, along with the other X-Laws, was seated on a great angel. It was pure white, and very big. And most importantly, it could fly. Meene smiled and pulled up Kairi, so that she too, was resting on the white angel.

"Thanks." Kairi said kindly. Meene smiled at her.

As Kairi sat on the angel, she watched many of the other Shamans falling helplessly.

_I'm so glad I'm not them._ Kairi thought happily.

Marco, too, seemed to notice many people falling to the ground (A/N: I mean, who wouldn't?) His eyes locked onto a few Shamans in particular. He turned to Kairi.

"Didn't you say you defeated them?" He asked, pointing to a group of four. Kairi looked at them.

"I did. It was my final test, remember?" She said.

"Then why are they here?" Marco asked, starting to get impatient. "Why are they still _alive_?"

"Y-you don't mean that I was supposed to kill them?" Kairi yelled. Her eyes widened. Marco nodded slowly.

"B-but we're the X-Laws! We follow the 10 Laws that our Lord, the God, gave to us! We're not supposed to kill people! We're the X-Laws!" Kairi cried. She was getting very nervous, and quite desperate, too. There was no way that she would stop, now that she's come so far.

"No, Kairi. _We're_ the X-Laws. You, are not." Marco said, pushing up his glasses. Kairi froze. She started trembling as Marco gave her a sharp push.

Hot tears fell from Kairi's eyes as she plummeted towards the ground, barley aware with what just happened.


	6. Where Will you Go?

Hi, I'm back! Oh, and does my character seem like a Mary Sue? I'm trying not to, but I really need your opinion, too. Thanks! And don't worry if Marco seems really mean, he has a good reason behind it.

Oh yeah, and there are gonna be some French part in this, but I have the translation nearby. But if it's wrong, please tell me so I can fix it. I'm not fluent in French. Also, the song is called _Where Will you Go?_ by Evanescence. I think it fits :)

OH, and I almost forgot: I do not own Shaman King. I only own Kairi and Risa.

* * *

><p>Yoh, Ryu, HoroHoro and Ren were walking in the scorching desert. They were perfectly fine from the fall, except for Ryu's hair, which was slightly shorter.<p>

"Danna… are there any more oasis' nearby?" Ryu asked.

"Hm… Nope!" Yoh said. They left the oasis about 30 minutes ago, and the heat was starting to get back to them.

"So there's still half a day of walking left?" HoroHoro cried.

"Yup," Yoh said, "We're already half-way done!"

"But there's still half to go…" HoroHoro said sadly. They walked in silence for a while.

"Hey… Ren, what is that?" Yoh asked, pointing to a smear of white off in the distance.

"Why are you asking me?" Ren snapped. Yoh backed off a bit.

The group walked closer to the thing. As they were a few meters away, Ryu gasped.

"Danna! I-it's that girl that ambushed us!" He cried.

The girls body was sprawled on the blazing desert. Her white X-Laws uniform turned a shade of red-orange, like the desert sand, and it was torn in many places. Her tangled hair was all around her face, and her eyes were closed. She was either unconscious, or dead.

"What are we going to do, Danna?" Ryu asked. Yoh didn't answer for a moment. He looked off into space.

"Danna?" Ryu asked again. Yoh shook his head back into reality.

"Let's wait." He said, plopping down onto the ground.

"What do you mean, wait?" HoroHoro asked.

"Let's wait for her to wake up." He said.

"Why should we? I'm not going to waste my time and wait for someone who tried to kill us to wake up!" Ren cried.

"She… she didn't try to kill us." Yoh said.

"What do you mean, Danna?" Ryu asked.

"Well, isn't it strange why she's here by herself, and not with her group? I over heard what the leader- Marco, I think- said to her when the plane disappeared. They rejected her because she didn't kill us at the attack- which she could have. So technically, it's our fault she's alone right now." Yoh said.

This silenced everyone for a while. It was right- she could've killed them, but she didn't.

Kairi slowly opened her eyes. She froze.

_Why are there people here? Those- those are the people that I fought with, right?_

Kairi unconsciously untied her sash from around her waist and quickly tangled it into three knots.

"HAAYAAA!" Kairi yelled, as she sat up and wacked Yoh with the sash. It bounced off of his head.

"You're awake." He said calmly. Everyone turned to look at Kairi. She was very confused.

"What are you doing here?" She asked suspiciously.

"We were waiting for you to wake up." Ryu said. Kairi stared at everyone with her mouth wide open. She shook her head and stood up.

"I thank you for that, but I must get going." She said. "Come, Risa."

Kairi stared limping away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Yoh asked.

_**They're too important for everyone.**_

_**They play the role of what you want to be.**_

"To find my team." She said, not even bothering to look back.

"B-but they're long gone by now! You won't reach them in time!" Ryu cried. Kairi said nothing.

_**But I, I know who you really are.**_

_**You're the one who cries when you're alone.**_

"I can handle this." Kairi said coldly. She looked around the desert- it was the same everywhere she looked.

_**But where will you go,**_

_**With no one left to save you from yourself?**_

_**You can't escape. You can't escape.**_

"Kairi- that's your name, right?" Yoh asked. Kairi nodded. "They left you. And you know it, there's no point in lying to yourself."

_**You think they can't see right through your eyes**_

_**You're scared to death to face reality.**_

"They- they don't care?" Kairi asked. Her voice trembled.

_**No one seems to hear your hidden cries**_

_**You're left to face yourself alone.**_

"Yoh told us. They don't care anymore. Why do you want to go back to people who betrayed you, anyway?" Ren said. Kairi stopped.

"Don't you dare talk about them that way!" Kairi yelled. She threw her sash at him with all of her might.

It flew at Ren. Or at least, Kairi tried to make it. It went up much too high, and too far away. Everyone had their eyes glued onto the sash as it crashed onto the ground.

_**But where will you go,**_

_**With no one left to save you from yourself?**_

_**You can't escape the truth.**_

Kairi sighed as she walked over pick up the sash.

"So are you coming?" Yoh asked.

"W-what?" Kairi whispered.

"Are you coming with us?"

_**I realize you're afraid.**_

_**But you can't abandon everyone.**_

_**You can't escape, you don't want to escape.**_

"Yoh, we can't let her come with us!" Ren cried.

"Yeah, she tried to kill us!" HoroHoro protested. When he said the word _kill_, Kairi burst into tears. Everyone froze.

"S-she's crying…" Ryu said.

"What's wrong?" Yoh asked. He tried his best to cheer her up, and failed miserably.

"Je suis seul et c'est de votre faute!" (**I'm alone and it's all your fault!**) Kairi cried. Tears poured down her face and muffled her words.

"What did she say?" HoroHoro asked.

_**I'm so sick of speaking words that no one understands.**_

_**Is it clear enough that I can't live my whole life all alone?**_

"She's speaking in another language." Yoh whispered.

"I think it's French." Ren said.

_**I can hear you in a whisper**_

_**But you can't even hear me screaming.**_

"Don't cry… It's OK…" Ryu said. He knelt down and patted Kairi's back.

_**Where will you go?**_

_**With no one left to save you from yourself?**_

Kairi looked at Ryu sadly. Her face was red from crying.

_**You can't escape the truth.**_

_**I realize you're afraid**_

_**But you can't reject the whole world**_

"You shouldn't travel alone." Ryu said.

"It's always better to have allies." Yoh said.

_Maybe… maybe they could lead me back to my group…_

_**You can't escape, You won't escape**_

_**You can't escape, You don't want to escape**_

"Thank you." Kairi whispered.


	7. One more Chance

Hello, everyone! ... Yeah, I know that I didn't update in a long time, but I'm really busy. It's test week for me. Actually, my friend forced me to write this now. So thanks, friend-who-shall-remain-annonymous! Anyways... I don't own Shaman King, it belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. But I DO own Kairi and Risa.

Random: Did you guys hear the news for the Shaman King starting in spring next year? It's gonna be a continuation of Shaman King Flowers. I hope it's good ^_^

* * *

><p>Kairi walked far away from everyone else. The hot sun burned her eyes, and everyone talking and complaining didn't help. Kairi's clothes were tattered and dirty and she hadn't said anything for a few hours now. Every now and then, Yoh would try to get her to talk, but he gave up after a few hours of failure. The sun was beginning to descend in the sky, and there were still no traces of any towns, villages or even forests. The group was stuck in the desert.<p>

"I'm really tired. Let's stop." HoroHoro said, sitting down on a rock.

"I'm all for it. It's getting dark, anyways. We should rest here." Yoh said. He laid down on the cooled sand, closed his eyes and sighed happily.

"Well, if Yoh Danna says so, then I agree completely." Ryu said, getting down next to Yoh.

"Hmph. I can't believe that you only have this much energy." Ren said, sitting down.  
>"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" HoroHoro yelled.<p>

"Nothing. Just that none of you are as physically fit as I am." Ren said smugly..

"DAMN YOU!" HoroHoro yelled, as he jumped up and started yelling at Ren. Ren yelled back at him.

_Geez, why do they always fight? It's so annoying, and pointless._ Kairi thought, as she walked a few meters away and sat down. She pulled off her sash from around her waist and lay it on the ground, using it as a make-shift pillow. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Even with all the fighting going on, she still managed to drift off into dream land.

* * *

><p>"<em>Jenny! Jenny! Come here, don't let him find you!"<em> _A small girl yelled, running. She looked around 5 or 6 years old, and she was desperately trying to get away from someone- or something. The girl was pulling an even smaller girl by the hand, trying to lead her away from the thing._

"_Kaya! Where are we going?" The younger girl cried._

"_Let's find mommy and daddy. They're going to help us." The older girl- Kaya- said._

Kairi woke up sweating in the middle of the night. Everyone else was asleep.

_It was that dream again. The one I kept getting ever since I started becoming an X-Law_.

* * *

><p>Tears drifted into Kairi's eyes, not only because she remembered that she wasn't an X-Law anymore, but because she could feel the girls' pain in the dream. She was sure that she didn't know the little girls- they were much too young, and she was sure that she didn't know any Jenny or Kaya. And there was no way that she knew a girl who had white, yet slightly orange hair.<p>

Kairi closed her eyes again.

_Come on, sleep! You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow! Sleep!_

The brunette got up and walked around. Nope, there was no way that she could sleep right now. Kairi looked over at her sleeping comrades. She felt a strong urge to be back where she started- with the angel group.

_What if I left right now? Would they let me do that?_ _I mean, I'm supposed to be looking for my group, not slacking off with these- these- these- these-_ Kairi's thoughts were caught off by Risa's soft hum.

"Yes, Risa. Let's do it." She whispered as she snuggled her spirit.

Kairi walked over, picked up her sash and tied it around her ripped X-Laws uniform. She tried to sneak away as quietly as possible, and thankfully, it worked. Kairi smiled happily as she looked behind her.

"Yes! I'm free!" She cheered as silently as she could. And then she sprinted. She sprinted as fast as she could- not bothering to look back anymore. She kept her eyes on the path ahead of her- unfortunately. She tripped against something hard- something quite big, too. THUD! Kairi fell on her face, just a few meters away from someone (she couldn't tell who it was in the darkness).

"Stupid rock…" Kairi mumbled, as she rubbed her throbbing head. Suddenly, she felt a looming shadow over her. Kairi lifted her head at the figure.

"Well, I can't say that I care about what you're doing," a familiar voice said. Kairi groaned, but kept her mouth shut "but if you're planning on going back to your so-called team, I wouldn't recommend that."

"Listen, Spiky, this is none of your business." Kairi hissed and stood up. Ren smirked slightly.

"What do you know, it talks." Ren mused.

"If you're looking for a fight, go fight with Snowball," Kairi started, pointing to HoroHoro, "and leave me alone."

"It's your choice. But from what I know, they're long gone by now. There's no way that you could catch up now." Ren said in a kinder voice. Kairi stopped walking and turned her head back.

"Why do you even care? Didn't you say I'd just be a burden?" Kairi asked.

"… It's because Yoh says you need help right now, and that you have no friends. I've been through that, too, and they helped me." Ren said, looking off into the night sky. Kairi sighed, sat down and lifted her head up to the stars.

"They're really pretty." Kairi said softly.

"Yeah." Ren replied. They sat there, gazing into the stars for a few more minutes, until Kairi smiled to herself, and lay back to sleep.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile…<p>

"What do you mean, Anna? We're following them?" Manta cried.

"Yes. You," Anna said, pointing to Manta, "are going to get the plane. And you," she said pointing to Delphi, "are coming with us."

"Why? Why is she coming?" Manta asked.

"Because she'll tell us where they're going next." Anna said, walking out the door.

Manta smiled slightly. He was ready for whatever was going to come his way. And he was happy to leave with his friends, to find his other friends.

"Let's go, Delphi." Manta said.

"Where?" Delphi asked, following him closely.

"We have to pack."


	8. Silent Answers

Hello again! Geez... I should stop writing so much at night... Anyway, you know what I'm going to say! That's right! I don't own Shaman King, and never will. Although... that would be cool. Never mind me, I'm just weird like that. Oh, and most things that are in _italics_ are thoughts. If it's just one word, and you don't know what it means- it probably means it's in French.

* * *

><p>Kairi woke up last the next morning. The loud arguments between Ren and HoroHoro made her grumble silently.<p>

"I told you that you would wake her up!" Ryu yelled. Kairi blinked.

_Who are they? What am I doing? Is that Elvis?_

"It was his fault!" HoroHoro cried, pointing to Ren.

"Hmph. Not that I care, anyway." Ren replied, rolling his eyes.

Kairi looked up at the sky- the sun was already high and burning. She squinted from the bright sunlight.

"Now that we're all ready, let's go." Yoh said cheerfully, as he stood up.

"We've already wasted enough time waiting for her to wake up." Ren said.

"But she looks so cute when she's asleep!" Ryu protested as everyone started walking. Kairi blinked a few more times, got up and followed the group at a distance. Something seemed wrong, though. Very wrong. Then it struck Kairi.

_Wait- Didn't Elvis die a long time ago?_

* * *

><p>The group walked for a few hours. Ren, Ryu and HoroHoro were constantly arguing about the tiniest details. Kairi watched them silently all the time.<p>

_Geez… how can they survive with each other? They're practically at each other's throats right now…_

At last, they arrived in a small town and settled inside a fast food restaurant. Kairi, as usual, kept her distance and sat as far away from them as possible. She sipped her milkshake silently, looking down on her plate the whole time the group was talking.

* * *

><p>"Um… Kairi, right?" Yoh asked after some time. Everyone stopped talking and looked at Yoh and Kairi. Kairi just stared at Yoh coldly. "That's your name… right?"<p>

Kairi nodded slowly. Yoh cringed under her intimidating glare, but he gathered up courage to ask another question.

"What's your last name?" He asked.

"…" Kairi stared at Yoh coldly.

"OK… Um… where are you from?" Yoh asked again, cringing some more.

"…" Kairi still stared at Yoh wordlessly.

"Eh… Why do you want to be the Shaman King?" Yoh tried again.

"…"

"Why aren't you speaking?" Yoh asked.

"…" Still nothing. Yoh sighed, giving up. Kairi slowly stood up and walked over to the bathroom. She couldn't help but overhear her friends- no, rather acquaintances- talking about her.

"I was trying to be nice… she seems so lonely." Yoh said.

"Are you sure that she can speak?" HoroHoro asked.

"Of course! She said something to us yesterday- but it sounded weird and foreign- French, maybe?" Ryu said.

"And she also said something back then in English- something about Jeanne being awesome and all that?" HoroHoro commented.

"Maybe she's just not fluent in English." Yoh guessed.

Ren noted all this silently. He didn't say that he had talked to her. He didn't mention that she _could_, in fact, speak perfect English. And most importantly, he didn't tell them that she was just like him- before he met Yoh.

* * *

><p>"OK, we're going to split up to look for information about Patch Village. Let's meet back here in one hour." Yoh said to everyone. Everyone nodded. Kairi blinked.<p>

_Why do they need to find that out?_ She thought, walking around the small town. _Oh well, I guess I'm just getting free time._

Kairi wandered aimlessly around the town for quite some time. She bought some bread (with the limited amount of money she had) and fed the ducks a bit. She helped a little kid untangle his kite from a tree. She received many strange looks from people passing by (including the little kid) - but she couldn't blame them. Kairi was walking around in a tattered, muddy white (or not so white) outfit, her hair was as messy as a birds nest and her hands were filthy. All in all, she was very happy to be free and alone again.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

"I know someone who can help you find Patch Village." A teenage girl said. She was wearing what seemed like a school uniform with dorky glasses. She spoke quietly as she led Yoh, Ren, HoroHoro and Ryu to a small house farther off. They sat down at the coffee table and anxiously waited for an old woman to tell them the location of the Patch Village.

"Hm… Patch Village… Patch Village. Patch Village?" The old woman said. "Oh dear, it looks like my memory has slipped. Could you please remind me? Anything you know would be useful."

Ren stood up.

"This seems suspicious." He said. "We're not going to tell you what we know."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

Kairi bought some mint-flavored ice cream.

"Thank you!" She said to the ice-cream man. He lifted his hat up a bit, happy to earn some money. The man's watch beeped. Kairi's eyes shot over to the watch's face.

_Oh no… It's been an hour and a half! I was supposed to meet the guys at the bench…_ Kairi thought, as she walked over, a bit _too_ calmly to the meeting place.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

The old woman's house 'blew up' on the group. Yoh and the others did their best to protect their heads from the pieces of 'house' falling from the sky.

"I can't believe that a nice old lady like you actually tried to kill us!" Yoh cried.

"I am not an old lady!" A blonde woman cried. She, along with four other figures ran to the other side of the lawn- or where the house just recently stood.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile<strong>…

Kairi looked around and blinked. There was no one here. She sighed and sat down on the bench, licking her ice cream slowly. Something caught her eye, though. She looked at the path next to the bench- a few strands of blue hair.

_Snowball! Or… whatever his name is! They must've gone this way!_

Kairi thought excitedly as she slowly walked to a clearing.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

"From the bottom!" The blonde woman cried. Her group of five was lined up perfectly in front of Yoh's group. Both Yoh's group and the other group had their Oversouls out.

"Sally." A girl said. She had red hair and looked either extremely bored or extremely dull.

"Lily." The dorky girl said, pushing up her glasses.

"Millie." A small girl- no older than 8- said.

"Ellie." A teenage girl- maybe around 16- said.

"SHARONA!" The blonde woman said. She looked like the leader of the group, maybe in her late 20s.

"Why is she the only one who's name doesn't end on a 'ly'?" HoroHoro, Ryu and Yoh whispered to each other. Ren face-palmed himself.

This gave Sharona and her group the perfect opportunity to attack. They charged at Yoh and the others- who noticed just a bit too late. The attack hit them straight on.

"Once m-" Sharona started yelling out, but something caught her eye. The gleaming eyes of someone she had met before had caught her up in a stare.

"What's wrong, Sharona?" Ellie asked. Sharona was at loss of words. The only think she could do was point helplessly in the direction of those eyes- which were right behind the group they were battling.

"RUN!" Sharona yelled, turning around and fleeing. Her loyal group did the exact same thing, seeing those eyes, too.

Kairi blinked.

"Were… were they running away from _moi_?" Kairi asked, pointing to herself. Her half-finished ice cream ran down her hand and dripped down onto her filthy uniform. Yoh, Ren, HoroHoro and Ryu turned around.

"You've got some explaining to do." HoroHoro said, pointing to the faded figures of the terrified women running off in the distance.


	9. Opening Up

Hi guys! Again! Sorry if this took more time... I'm trying to get it sorted out. I have a great idea for the ending... but it's kind of hard to come up with fillers that are not from the anime or manga. Anyway, there is an OC at the end of this chapter... who you might know from another story. If you don't recognize her, you'll find out in the next chapter. And please, I would appreciate it if you review. And sorry that this one is shorter! And once again, some words are in French.

* * *

><p>"You've got some explaining to do." HoroHoro said, pointing to the faded figures of the terrified women running off in the distance.<p>

Kairi just stared at them for some time.

"Uh… Hello?" Ryu asked, waving his hand in front of Kairi's face. Kairi shook her head.  
>"Uh, nothing. It's nothing." Kairi said.<br>"Whoa… she actually spoke…" Yoh whispered. Kairi turned to face him.

"I'm not stupid." she said plainly.

"In English!" Yoh cried.

"Shut up!" Kairi yelled. Everyone stared at her. Finally, Yoh sighed.

"Can you tell us what that was about?" He asked. Kairi went back into her 'staring off into space' look.

"Nothing, really." She said softly. HoroHoro started to get annoyed.

"Just tel-" But Ryu cut him off.

"I think we should leave her alone. She's going to tell us when she feels comfortable." Ryu said softly. Kairi kept staring off into the distance.

_They've kept me in with them… I guess I owe them something, too…_

"…_Vous aver raison _(You are right)… I should tell you at least that…" Kairi said quietly. Everyone leaned in to hear the story. "…while we eat." Everyone groaned.

"It has to be Chinese food." Ren said. HoroHoro groaned louder.  
>"<em>Juste assez de <em>(Fair enough). As long as we get to eat." Kairi said.

* * *

><p>-At the restaurant-<p>

"So, what happened?" HoroHoro asked. Kairi didn't answer- she just ate her food silently.  
>"You said you'd tell us while we're eating." Ren said coldly. Kairi didn't say anything.<p>

"She stopped talking again…" Yoh said.

"We can see that!" HoroHoro cried.

"...They were my first test." Kairi said softly. "That's it, nothing more."

"Uh… Can you tell us more?" Ryu asked.

"Yes, I can." Kairi said. Everyone waited for an answer in silence.

"Are you going to tell us?" Ryu asked after a few minutes of waiting.

"Yes, I am." Kairi said. Everyone waited again.  
>"Then why aren't you telling us?" HoroHoro cried impatiently.<br>"…You never asked. You only asked me if I'll tell you, but that's it." Kairi said seriously.

HoroHoro yelled out in frustration. Yoh laughed a bit.

"Just say it." Ren said. Kairi nodded slightly.

"They were like you. Jeanne-sama told me that I could become a X-Law if I defeated them. So I did. That's it." Kairi said.

"Wait… then why did you have to do us, too?" HoroHoro asked. Kairi shrugged.

"Apparently, they weren't strong enough to count. I guess that's why they ran off like that. They were terrified." Kairi laughed. Everyone stared at Kairi open-eyed.

"Whoa… she laughed…" Ryu said in awe. Kairi stopped abruptly.

"Yeah… that's something you probably won't ever hear again." She said and went back to eating in silence. Everyone else sighed.

"By the way, I don't have any money. You'll have to pay for this." Kairi said, wiping her mouth.

"WHAT?" Everyone cried.  
>"Come on, I didn't eat <em>that<em> much." Kairi said. "I'll make up for it somehow."

"So… that means that you're staying with us?" Ryu asked. Kairi shrugged.

"I… I guess…" She said.

"Yoh! We can't let her stay with us!" Ren protested. Yoh looked over at him.

"Why not? She's a strong ally." Yoh pointed out.

"But she attacked us!" Ren said.

"But those were orders." Yoh said.

"I agree with Ren on this… She's too suspicious." HoroHoro said seriously.

"She hasn't done anything to us, and we've been traveling together for some time already." Ryu pointed out.

"She could be an X-Law spy. She could tell them our location or something." Ren said.

"I am not! Why can't you guys believe me?" Kairi asked, slightly frustrated.  
>"Because you're not telling us anything about yourself." Ren said coldly. Kairi froze.<p>

_What should I do? Or rather, where should I go? Should I stay with these guys or try to get back to the X-Laws? Well… I guess I can try._

"…Fine. What do you want to know?" Kairi asked quietly.  
>"Wait- you're going to let us ask you questions? And you're going to answer?" HoroHoro asked in disbelief. Kairi inhaled deeply.<p>

"I… I guess I am." She said.

_I just want you guys to trust me. I just want to belong._

Yoh smiled.

"What's your last name?" He asked. Kairi furrowed her brows.  
>"I…I don't know." She said.<p>

"How can you not know your last name?" Ryu asked.  
>"I told you. My parents… died, and I don't remember what their last name was. In fact, I don't remember them at all…" Kairi said.<p>

"So you have no last name?" Yoh asked. Kairi shrugged.  
>"Depends if you say that my adopted parents last name is mine." Kairi said.<p>

"You're adopted?" Yoh asked. Kairi sighed.

"Where do you think I went after my parents… died?" She asked.

"…Never mind. Um… Where are you from?" Yoh asked hopefully.

"France. Couldn't you figure that out?" Kairi asked.

"Why do you want to be the Shaman King?" Ryu butted in. Kairi thought for a while.  
>"Um… <em>Je ne said pas <em>(I don't know)… I guess I'd like to meet my real parents… or to at least know what happened back then… when they were… murdered." Kairi choked out. "Is this enough?"

Yoh, Ryu and HoroHoro nodded.  
>"Good, 'cause I'm getting tired of all this talking." She said.<br>"Wait- that doesn't mean she's trustworthy!" Ren protested. Kairi frowned and crossed her arms.  
><em>Geez! I struggled to do what they asked me to- and he's still not bending!<em>

"Come on, Ren…" Ryu said, bending down to his level.  
>"It's three against one. You lose." HoroHoro said, both teasing and serious at the same time.<p>

But before Ren could say anything else, someone barged in through the door. It was a young girl- maybe around 14, two years older than Kairi- with long brown hair in low pigtails. She was wearing a very familiar outfit- the unmistakable X-Laws uniform. The only difference was that she had a four-leafed clover pendant hanging around her neck.  
>"Die, Asakura Yoh!" She cried, pointing her cane at Yoh.<p> 


	10. Xtra Chapter

Yeah, I know that I've been updating this very often lately- but I'm having a great, um... what do you call it? Writers... un-block. There. Close enough. So yeah, this has Saki in it- from Miosaki's story, _Four Leaf Clover_. Please check that out, too! By the way, there's a song in this that Rio (Ryu in the english dub) sings. I changed the words around a little, but it's mainly the same (but without Lyserg, 'cause he's not here).

* * *

><p>"Die, Asakura Yoh!" She cried, pointing her cane at Yoh. A small, green fairy-like spirit with some pink and yellow around her flew into the cane that the girl was holding.<p>

"What? What are you doing?" Yoh cried.

"Rairakku no kaori no akumu (Nightmare of lilac scent)!" She yelled.

A soft lilac-smelling wind carrying lilac petals blew by Yoh's face. His eyes opened wide as he smelt it in. Suddenly, he froze. His eyes shut down and he fell backwards.  
>"Yoh Danna!" Ryu cried. Yoh started snoring.<p>

"What did you do to him?" HoroHoro yelled angrily.  
>"Nothing much. He's just going to be asleep for another, oh, I don't know… six hours or so?" The girl said.<p>

"You bi-" Ren started, but he was cut off by Kairi, who grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Don't hurt her!" She cried. Ren glared at her.  
>"So you are a spy for the X-Laws!" He cried. He pulled his arm away fiercely and ran at the girl. The girl smirked. She pulled out her cane again.<br>"Rairak-" She cried, but someone cut her off.

"That's enough, Saki!" A familiar voice said. The girl- Saki- turned around.  
>"Marco. I'm glad to see you caught up with me." The girl said happily.<br>Marco pushed up his glasses. He looked at Yoh's sleeping figure and smirked happily.  
>"Good work, Saki. We can leave now." He said as he turned around and started walking away.<p>

Saki nodded. She turned around, glanced one last time at Yoh, and followed Marco outside. Kairi froze and stared after them in longing. She jumped up and sprinted after them.  
>"Marco!" She cried. Marco didn't stop or even turn around- he kept on walking. The whole X-Laws team- along with Jeanne in her Iron Maiden- were there, waiting for Marco and Saki.<p>

"Marco! Please stop!" Kairi cried again. "Please!" Saki sighed. She tugged at Marco's sleeve.  
>"We can at least hear her out." Saki said.<p>

Marco sighed as well. He pushed up his glasses and turned around.

"What do you want, Kairi? Didn't I tell you that you're not one of us anymore?" He said coldly. Kairi froze. Her eyes started watering.  
>"P-please! I need to know why you were so harsh on me!" Kairi cried out. Marco sighed again. He walked up to Kairi and looked her in the eyes, but not before glancing at Jeanne behind him.<p>

"… That was another chance for you to righter your wrong. If you can… defeat them properly this time, you can still join us." Marco said reluctantly. He turned away and started walking again.

All of the X-Laws left. They got farther and farther away. Kairi stared after them.  
>"And Kairi… change out of your uniform. You know that you're not one of us anymore." Marco said, not bothering to look back.<p>

Kairi looked down at her clothes. She was still wearing the battered not-so-white X-Laws uniform. It was torn in most places. She heard footsteps behind her. Ren, HoroHoro and Ryu (who was carrying Yoh in his arms) were behind her, but Kairi barley noticed.

_They left again~ but he told me… right? He told me, that if I can defe- no, _kill_, them this time… I could still become a X-Law! But… would that be the right choice?_

HoroHoro grabbed Kairi fiercely by the shoulders.  
>"Oi! What was that about?" He cried. He shook Kairi hard. Kairi quickly wiped her eyes on her dirty sleeve, making sure that no one sees them, and then pulled away from HoroHoro.<br>"…_Je ne sais pas_." Kairi sighed. "I have to get new clothes."

"No! What happened? Why did they attack Yoh?" HoroHoro yelled.

"_Êtes-vous stupide?_ (Are you stupid?)" Kairi laughed. "They have some kind of grudge against Yoh."

"What grudge?" Ryu asked, furrowing his brow. Kairi shrugged.  
>"They said they'd tell me in the Patch Village." She said. "But now I have to get new clothes."<p>

Kairi started walking over to a clothing shop.

"Do you think what she said was true?" Ryu asked.

"I don't know… I don't think she's lying, though. Let's wait until Yoh wakes up, and then we can decide." HoroHoro said.

Suddenly, a thought struck Kairi. She walked backwards to the boys.

"Can I have some money, please?" She asked innocently. HoroHoro and Ren stared at her in a 'you-are-so-weird' way. Ryu's eyes popped out in heart shapes.

"Ah! She looks SO cute when she asks for money!" Ryu cried, handing Kairi $50. Kairi smiled widely and rushed into the shop. But before she entered, a thought popped into her head.

_I wonder if we paid for the food in the restaurant…_

* * *

><p>-20 minutes later-<p>

Kairi walked out of the shop, wearing a light blue turtle neck and long blue jeans. She had a small green bag hung on her right shoulder, which carried another pair of jeans and a bright orange t-shirt, almost like the one that she had back in Japan. Her hair was neatly combed and she looked refreshed.

"I'm done!" She cried happily.

"Finally!" Ren mumbled.

"You look so different." Ryu commented. Kairi nodded.

"What are we going to do about Yoh?" HoroHoro asked.

"I guess we should just wait." Ryu shrugged.

"No. We can't afford to lose any time." Ren said. "We have to get to Patch Village as soon as possible."

"Are you crazy, Ren? What about Yoh?" HoroHoro asked.

"You," Ren said, pointing to Ryu, "are going to carry him until he wakes up."

"Anything for Yoh-danna." Ryu said, nodding.

"Are you kidding me? We're actually going like this?" HoroHoro complained. Ren gave him a cold stare. HoroHoro sighed.

"Well, let's get on our way!" Ryu said happily.

"We're hitting the road, but we don't know where to! We've got no map, and we've got no food! This girl attacked us, and that was rude! Oh no!" Ryu sang.

* * *

><p>"Are you coming, Saki?" Marco asked as he pushed up his glasses.<br>"Hm? Oh, yeah." Saki said. She turned around and joined her travelling group.

Marco was pushing Jeanne (in her Iron Maiden) around, and all of the other X-Laws were following closely behind. They were talking about something that Saki couldn't understand- so she backed off a little. Saki walked alone for a while.

"Hey, Saki." Lyserg said, dropping out of the group and waiting for Saki.

"Oh… hi, Lyserg." Saki said. They walked in silence for a while.

"Are you thinking about Asakura Yoh?" Lyserg asked. Saki looked over at him.

"…Yeah… I'm still not sure if it was the right thing to do." She said.

"I know how you feel. We met before for a while… It doesn't feel right to attack an 'innocent' person, does it?" Lyserg said.

"…No. But Marco said that we have to. I mean, after all, he is Hao's-" Saki started, but Lyserg cut her off.

"I know. But whatever we do, I promise you, we'll defeat him somehow." Lyserg said cheerfully. Saki smiled and nodded.

"We are stopping here for the night." Marco announced as they stopped at a clear spot in the desert.

_Wait… when did we arrive at the desert?_

Lyserg went over to a large rock and he leaned against it.

"I guess I'm going to sleep here for the night." He said. Marco nodded.

"That's the only place for us to sleep- except for Jeanne-sama, of course- so we may as well sleep against that rock." Marco said. All of the X-Laws (except for Jeanne) gathered around the rock and leaned against it. Saki settled herself in between Lyserg and Kevin.

Saki was awake for a long time. It was hard to get comfortable on the hard rock. Her head kept banging against it, which made it really hard to sleep. Her teammates, however, weren't having the same problem. Everyone else was sound asleep- some were even snoring. Saki closed her eyes.

_I should stop worrying. We're going to defeat Hao one way or another. There are two things that bother me, though… One, doesn't that brown haired kid- Yoh- look a lot like Hao? And two… Why does Kairi's face look so much like Jeanne's?_

Saki's eyelids got really heavy. Her head drooped down a bit. She fell asleep as her head hit Lyserg's shoulder. Neither of them noticed, though, but a tiny smile appeared on Saki's lips.

* * *

><p>Please- those who are reading this- you must be enjoying it at least a little if you've stuck with it for ten chapters. So please, review! I would really appreciate it, and it means a lot to me. Thank you!<p> 


	11. Getting Close

Hi! So um... I know that there's nothing really going on with Ren and Kairi right now... but that's how I like it. Going SLOW.

I'm trying to change the story around a bit, so it won't be exactly the same like the manga or anime. And I'm trying to get them to Patch Village ASAP because the important stuff happens there, not here.

* * *

><p>"Saki. Saki. Saki." Lyserg gently nudged Saki, whose sleeping head was gently resting on his shoulder. "Saki."<p>

Saki's eyes slowly fluttered open. Her big purple eyes lost their sleepy touch as they focused on Lyserg. They stayed on Lyserg for a while.

"Uh… Saki? Can you get off of my shoulder?" He asked.

Saki nodded quickly and jumped up. Her face turned bright pink and she turned away. Lyserg looked at her, confused.

_Did I do something wrong?_ Lyserg thought, but Marco interrupted his thinking.

"Let's keep going. We mustn't waste any time. We can eat breakfast on the way." Marco said, clapping his hands.

"I agree, Marco. Let's go." Jeanne's voice said from inside the Iron Maiden.

The X-Laws started walking again in that perfect march together, leaving many footprints imprinted in the desert sand.

* * *

><p>Anna, Tamao, Manta, Delphi and Abby were sitting in a small plane. There wasn't much room on it, so Anna and Abby were sitting together, Delphi and Manta, and Tamao was sitting next to all of the luggage.<p>

"…When's the in-flight meal coming?" Anna asked coldly.

"Not yet! We haven't even started up the engine!" Manta cried. Abby frowned.

She was a girl, around 14 years old, with long, black hair over one shoulder. She had slightly darker skin than Anna and she was a bit taller, too. Abby was wearing a black dress, much like Anna's, but with a black jacket over it.

"Don't be so mean, Anna." Abby said. "Or are you scared?"

"I am not scared." Anna said, her eyebrows twitching slightly.

"Oh, really? Isn't this the first time you ever rode a plane?" Abby asked, smirking slightly. Anna frowned harder.

"And? I'm not afraid of anything." Anna said. The two girls sent cold glares at each other for a long time, until Delphi finally sighed.

"Geez! What is up with you people? Why are you so boring right now?" Delphi asked. None of the girls noticed her. Manta sighed deeply.

"Well, you'd better not expect too much from them. I think they're going to be like this for the whole flight." Manta sighed. Delphi nodded reluctantly.

"…So… Do you want to play a game or something? I have a portable version of Monopoly with me!" Delphi said after a while. Without waiting for a response from Manta, she pulled out a small magnetic version of Monopoly and set it up.

"Your turn." She said happily.

* * *

><p>Yoh, Ryu, HoroHoro, Ren and Kairi were sitting in a bus. They had managed to find one that would get them to the nearest town. It was a long ride, though. They had spent the night in the bus, but it had given Yoh plenty of time to recover form the sleeping spell cast on him by Saki.<p>

It was already 10:00 AM. The bus dropped off the group at a small town.

"What now?" Ryu asked Yoh, stretching.

"I guess we look for more information." Yoh said, laughing slightly. HoroHoro sighed.

"We've been looking for information about the Patch village for so long already~ We're just wasting our time now. There's no point in this." HoroHoro said.

"Hey, we don't give up, HoroHoro." Ryu said, patting HoroHoro on the back.

"Don't touch me!" HoroHoro cried. Finally, Kairi sighed.

"It's that way." She pointed to the east. Everyone stopped arguing and looked over at her.

"How do you know?" Ren asked suspiciously. Kairi shrugged.

"X-Laws. The East Star will guide you." She recited. HoroHoro sighed again.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" HoroHoro asked angrily.

"You never asked." Kairi said simply.

"I see that you're lost…" A voice said from above.

Everyone looked up- there was a boy up there. He looked around 14, with a dark complexion and a big, poofy brown afro.

"We're not lost." Ryu said. The boy ignored him.

"And I see that you have no idea where the Patch Village is whatsoever." He said.

"No. I know." Kairi said simply. Once again, the boy ignored her.

"And, I know that you'll need MY help to get there." The boy said. He jumped down onto the ground. "My name is Chocolove!"  
>Everyone stared at him.<br>"Choco…love…?" Yoh asked. Then he burst out laughing. "Haha… that sounds like _chocolate_!"

The dark boy smiled. But it wasn't an evil smile. It was more of a happy smile.

"I can make anyone laugh! It is I, the great comedian, Chocolove!" He cried.

Everyone stared at him blankly.

"And _why_ should we accept your help?" Ren asked coldly. Chocolove smirked.

"It's because _I_ know where the Patch Village is." He said proudly.

"Then why would you want us to come with you?" HoroHoro asked.

"It's… uh… because… I, uh, need… allies." Chocolove cringed.

"Allies?" Yoh asked, suddenly turning serious.

"Yes… It's better to travel in groups… there are a lot of scary shamans out there. It's hard to defeat them with only one person" Chocolove said.

"Hmph. There's no one that I can't defeat. I don't believe you." Ren said proudly. (A/N: In Japanese, Ren says "shinjidaren" which translates into 'I don't believe you') Chocolove smirked. He jumped up at Ren, and threw a dress and wig on him.

"Cinderella Ren!" He cried. Half a second later, Chocolove was lying on the ground, covered in bruises from Ren.

"Wait… How did you know what Ren's name was?" Yoh asked, kneeling down to Chocolove's height.

"Information is my weapon." Chocolove said, getting up. "Let me introduce my spirit ally, Mic. He has the sharpest senses, and he helps me get information. Because information is the most important thing… as long as you know it, whether it's about music, books, clothes or politics, you can get along better in life."

A large jaguar spirit appeared next to Chocolove. He looked quite fierce.

"You," Chocolove said, pointing to Yoh, "Are Asakura Yoh. From Izumo, Japan. You, Ryu from Japan. You, Tao Ren from China. Yoh, Kairi… uh, something, from France. And you, BoroBoro Usei, and Ainu." Chocolove said. HoroHoro cried out in frustration.

"It's HoroHoro!" He cried. (A/N: If you don't know this, BoroBoro means 'crappy')

"Oh, really? I'll have to mark that." Chocolove said, pulling out a little notebook and a pencil. He opened up to a page and wrote something in.

"…Are you saying that you know the actual location of the Patch Village?" Yoh asked Chocolove. Chocolove nodded.

"Of course. Full course! With sauce!" He said happily, taking out a plate of chicken and sauce out of nowhere.

"Is this supposed to be another one of your jokes?" Ren cried angrily, poking him on the nose with his kwan-dao.

"Ow! That hurt!" Chocolove cried, holding his nose. Kairi sighed.

…_What am I supposed to do? I guess I can at least go to the Patch Village with them… but then… it's over for them._ Kairi thought grimly.

* * *

><p>And once again, please review if you are enjoying it. If you have any question or comments, then I will leave a reply in the next chapter.<p> 


	12. Hawk

Hi again! Whoo! I'm on a roll here! ...Yeah, I know that I should be writing other stuff as well... Oh well...

Um... Maybe you guys are thinking that the X-Laws aren't going to be important anymore... But I'll say that they will be. Trust me.

And if all goes well, I'll get to the first climax in the chapter after the next one. Maybe.

And by the way... The character in this, Miko, is a quick character that my brother helped me with. Really. I asked him for a random name, and that was that.

* * *

><p>"What would you like, Miss? Chicken or fish?" The waiter on the plane asked. He was bent over, as if slightly bowing to Anna. The young Itako didn't have to think- it was already planned out.<p>

"I'll take rice with mushroom gravy. Don't forget the strawberry Jell-O for dessert with whipped cream and fresh fruit." Anna said in her usual cold voice. The waiter sweat-dropped a bit.

"I'm sorry, Miss, we don't offer that. It's either chicken or fish. And there is no Jell-O." He said. Anna glared at him.

"What is this? Aren't you supposed to take my order? I demand a refund." Anna said.

"You're not even paying for this…" Manta reminded Anna, sweat-dropping slightly. Abby sighed.  
>"She'll have the fish. But I want chicken." Abby said. The waiter smiled thankfully at Abby and he served them the food.<p>

"You are _so _hard to deal with, Anna." Abby said. Anna frowned at Abby, but she started eating, anyway. The waiter walked over to Delphi and Manta.

"How about you?" He asked them.

"I'll have fish." Manta said. The waiter gave him a small tray with the food on it. He turned to Delphi.

"And you, Miss?" He asked. Delphi frowned. She turned to Manta.

"I don't like plane food." She said.  
>"And what do you expect ME to do about it?" Manta asked. Delphi shrugged.<p>

"Nothing. I'm just not going to eat." She said. Manta sighed.  
>"Suit yourself." He said, as he opened his food.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Later…<strong>

"The Patch Village should be just ahead!" Chocolove exclaimed.

The sun was burning harshly on their backs. They were in the middle of a desert, and the hot sand pieces were stinging their eyes. Everyone was sweating and they were both dehydrated and hungry.

"How much further?" HoroHoro asked. Chocolove rubbed his chin for a while.  
>"Uh… three days, I would say. If we walk at this constant speed, that is." He said.<p>

_Three days until they die._ Kairi thought. _Three days until I go back to the X-Laws._

"I'm hungry." HoroHoro sighed.  
>"There aren't any towns around here, are there?" Ryu asked. Yoh shrugged.<p>

"I don't see any." He said. "Amidamaru, could you go check for us?"

Amidamaru nodded. He turned into his spirit ball form. He flew up into the sky really fast. Yoh plopped down onto the ground.

"We may as well rest." Yoh said happily.

Everyone sat down on either a large rock or on the hot sand. It didn't really matter which- both were equally hot.

"Ne~ HoroHoro, can't you make some ice? I'm really thirsty." Ryu said. HoroHoro sighed.

"No…. It's too hot to make any ice. I'm too tired. And anyway, even if it did work, it would still melt before we got a chance to do anything with it." He said.

They sat around in the sand for quite some time in silence. Everyone was too tired too talk, it would've wasted too much energy. Finally, Kairi sighed.

_It's really hot…_ She thought. Risa rubbed against her hand. Kairi smiled. _Good idea._.

Risa flew into Kairi through her chest. A bright light appeared, causing everyone to stare. Kairi lifted her hand. A small shadow flew out of it. The shadow floated up above Kairi's head and it stayed there, shielding her from the harsh sun.

_Much better…_ She thought. Risa stayed integrated with Kairi. Yoh, HoroHoro, Chocolove, Ryu and Ren crept towards her.

"_Common?_ What do you want?" Kairi asked.

* * *

><p>A few moments later, everyone was huddled under the shadow, which was floating above Kairi. It was the only protection that they had from the sun. Since there were now not one person, but six people, Kairi had to extend the shadow.<p>

"When will Amidamaru come back?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know… Why do you ask?" Yoh asked. Kairi sighed.

"No more Furyoku." She said.

The shadow flickered on and off a few times, before it finally went out all together. Risa flew out of Kairi's body. The whole group was left sitting in the sun, not wanting to believe that their only protection was gone.

"That was so short!" HoroHoro cried. Kairi frowned.

"It would've lasted longer if it was only for myself." She said. "It takes up a lot of Furyoku! I'm surprised that it lasted that long…"

"Speak for yourself, HoroHoro. You can't even provide us with ice right now." Ren smirked.

"Are you saying that she's more useful than me?" HoroHoro cried angrily.

"Neither of you are useful. But right now, she was more help than you." Ren said. HoroHoro gritted his teeth.

"Dammit, Ren! You're making me angry!" HoroHoro cried. But before he could Oversoul, a hawk caught him by the shoulders.

"Huh? What's going on?" HoroHoro shouted. He was lifted up into mid-air by the hawk.

However, they noticed that the hawk wasn't really a hawk… it was more of a… kite. The string attacked to the kite hawk led back down onto the desert. A young boy was holding it in his right hand.

He looked around 7 or 8 years old, although he was not much taller than Manta. He had short, brown hair and big purple eyes. Strangely, he was wearing a coat and long jeans, even though it was burning hot in the desert. He had a purple Oracle Bell hung around his neck.

"HoroHoro!" Ryu, Chocolove and Yoh cried. Ren silently took out his Kwan-Dao and Oversouled into it. Ryu looked over at Ren and did the same.

"Don't worry, Master Yoh, we'll take care of this until Amidamaru comes back." Ryu said, gripping his wooden sword tighter. Chocolove Oversoul-ed as well, even though he had no intentions of fighting alongside his new friends.

"Chuuka Zanmai!" Ren shouted, attacking the boy. The boy quickly shifted away. However, this distracted the small boy enough to let HoroHoro go. He started falling. Just as HoroHoro was about to hit the floor, Tokageroh's hair wrapped around him and brought him to the ground safely.

"Thanks, Ryu." HoroHoro said, getting up. Ryu and Tokageroh nodded. HoroHoro looked around for Kororo. She appeared next to him, and HoroHoro Oversoul-ed into his snowboard.

"Who are you? Why did you attack us?" HoroHoro yelled at the little boy.

"My name is Miko. Hao-sama ordered me to come here to test you. He says that if you can't beat me, then you don't have the right to come to Patch Village." The boy said. He moved his arm, and the kite came down to everyone. It opened its beak, letting out a piercing shriek. Everyone covered their ears, making Ren, HoroHoro, Ryu and Chocolove drop their weapons. The hawk scooped up the weapons and flew back to Miko. It dropped the weapons next to the boy. All the spirits flew out of the weapons and came over to their masters.

"Damn! We don't have any weapons!" Chocolove cursed. He glanced over at Yoh and Kairi.

"Wait… why isn't she fighting?" Ryu asked, pointing to Kairi. Kairi pointed at herself.

"Furyoku. _Non_." She said.

"She's out of Furyoku, remember?" Chocolove asked. "And Amidamaru isn't here, either."

"Hmph. I don't need anyone to help me- I don't even need my Oversoul to defeat that brat." Ren smirked.

"That's my Bocchama!" Bason cried, and he flew into Ren's body. A bright light came out as they integrated.

Ren jumped up and ran at Miko. He jumped into the air and kicked him in the chest. Miko fell backwards, but his Oversoul caught him. He sat on his hawk kite and it flew up high in the air.

"I didn't think you'd be this weak!" He exclaimed. The hawk kite swooped down again and grabbed the weapons left on the ground into its claws. Miko took them from there into his hands. Ren, Ryu, HoroHoro and Chocolove ran after the hawk kite. Once again, it swooped down to the ground. Ryu, Ren, HoroHoro and Chocolove shielded their faces from the hot sand that was being sprayed into their faces. Miko smirked. He steered his Oversoul over to Yoh and Kairi. The hawk kite's claw dug deeply into Yoh's torso and went up all the way to his left cheek.

"See you later, suckers!" Miko cried as he and his Oversoul flew away towards Patch Village.

Yoh lay on the ground, unconscious. He was bleeding horribly, but thankfully, he was still breathing.

"Yoh!" Everyone shouted. They ran up to him.

"Yoh-dono! What happened?" Amidamaru, who had just arrived, asked. He flew close to Yoh's face, almost crying.

"… We need a doctor. Amidamaru, how long until the nearest town?" Ren asked.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

"We're here, Jeanne-sama." Marco said. The Iron Maiden's face opened. Jeanne smiled as she looked at the ruins.

"Good job, everyone. You can relax until the next round." Jeanne said simply. The Iron Maiden closed again.

Marco wheeled Jeanne into the X-Laws boat near Patch Village (don't ask how it got there).

Lyserg smiled. He went into his room in the boat. It was next to Saki's room.  
>"I wonder… I wonder if Kairi will join us again." Lyserg said. Saki nodded.<br>"It would be cool to have another friend." She said. "But do you think she'll actually do it in order to return?"

"… I don't know…" Lyserg said.


	13. Dark Night

Yeah... I know that it's been a while... sorry! But I have a good excuse! My hand is in a cast, is I can only type with one hand.

Also... Merry Early Christmas! ^^

* * *

><p>"… We need a doctor. Amidamaru, how long until the nearest town?" Ren asked.<p>

"If we walk, it would probably take around 3 hours… We're in the middle of nowhere, for goodness sake!" Amidamaru shouted, still levitating over Yoh.

"HoroHoro! Can you create an ice bandage on Yoh to stop the blood from flowing?" Ryu asked. He was beginning to panic.

"I told you already, I can't create ice here!" HoroHoro shouted.

Kairi sighed. She silently walked over to Yoh. Kairi untied her sash from her waist and leaned over to the unconscious figure of Yoh. She tied it around his wound tightly. It started to soak up the blood that was pouring out of him, and soon enough, the black sash looked more and more like red.

"It won't help much, but it should do for some time." She said. Ryu nodded.

"I'll carry Yoh Danna for now, but we have to get him a doctor." Ryu said as he picked up Yoh. Yoh's head rolled around limply, and he kept on bleeding. Ryu's white coat thingy had been stained red with blood.

* * *

><p>Ryu huffed. He had been carrying Yoh on his back for about two hours now. The sun was still bright and high in the sky. There was still no sign of any towns whatsoever.<p>

Yoh wasn't bleeding that much anymore, but Ryu suspected it was because of the dried blood forming a scab on his wound.

"Are we close yet, Amidamaru?" HoroHoro asked.

"…No. I'd say another hour or two, and we'll arrive." Amidamaru said quietly. He looked down.

"Huh? What's wrong, Amidamaru?" Chocolove asked, noticing his silence.  
>"…Nothing. It's just that… None of this would've happened if I was there with Yoh-dono!" Amidamaru said quietly.<p>

"It's not your fault…" Ryu said.

"_Oui._ You have to get used to losing people…. In the Shaman Fight, it's kill or be killed. You'll have to accept it that anyone could betray you…" Kairi said softly. Amidamaru sighed and nodded. Ren looked over at Kairi.

_How would she know?_ He thought.

"But there are also people who you trust and know that they would never betray you." A voice said from behind. Everyone froze and slowly turned around.

At first it looked like everything around them- just the sand and sun. But then they realized that there were people there. Anna, Abby, Delphi, Manta, Tamao as well as two other people were standing there.

There was a man on a wheelchair, who was being pushed by a nurse in a light pink dress. She had long, blonde hair that reached below her knees and a smiling face. However, she appeared to be dead, since her skin was extremely pale and there was a light around her.

The man sitting on the wheelchair had messy blonde hair as well, and he was wearing a white hat and coat. On his lap was a large blanket, covering up his legs. His smiling lips were blue, and he had bags under his cold eyes.

"Faust!" Amidamaru cried, momentarily forgetting about Anna and the others.

"Hello, Amidamaru." Faust said happily. Anna cleared her throat.

"Why are you here, Mistress Anna?" Ryu asked.

"I have to deliver something to the Patch." Anna said. "What happened to Yoh?"

"We were attacked by this little kid- he was really strong, actually!" HoroHoro shouted.

"Whatever." Anna said coldly. "Faust, you know what to do."

"Wait… who is that guy, anyway?" HoroHoro cried.

"I am Faust VIII, descendant of the great Doctor Faustus. Mistress Anna had allowed me to be reunited with my love once again, as long as I work for Anna. This, this is my lovely wife, Eliza." Faust said, smiling at the nurse pushing his wheelchair. Eliza smiled back at him and pushed his wheelchair over to Yoh (who Ryu had laid on the ground). Eliza helped him lift up Yoh onto the wheelchair, so he was lying flat on the arm rests. He took off the not-so-black sash and held it up. Kairi went up to him and snatched it out of his hands before he had the chance to say anything.

"_C'est à moi." _(It's mine) Kairi said as she tied it around her waist, completely ignoring the fact that it was dripping with blood. There was silence after that.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Manta cried, pointing at Kairi.

"Yeah, you tried to kill us!" Delphi exclaimed. Kairi clenched her fists.

"Relax, guys. She's with us now." Ryu said happily. Kairi just stared at them.

"Yeah, she won't hurt anyone anymore." HoroHoro said. Kairi looked down at the sand. Manta and Delphi nodded, but they didn't look very sure about that.

After Faust had finished dressing Yoh's wound, they got on their way again.

* * *

><p>"Thank you, guys." Yoh said. He was conscious now, and along with everyone else, he was sitting in a restaurant.<p>

"I knew that it was a good idea to take Faust along with us." Anna said. Yoh smiled sheepishly.

"I didn't think that he'd become my ally…" Yoh said.

"Anna has offered Eliza and I another life together… I am forever indebted to Anna and you, Yoh." Faust said happily.

"So he's going to be working at out Hot Spring Resort as the main doctor." Anna said.

"What?" Yoh cried. "…Oh well, I guess I was expecting something like that…"

* * *

><p>Everyone has been walking for a few hours already. It was dark, so dark that it was hard to see. Thankfully, they were still walking in the desert, so the only things anyone would occasionally trip over were other people.<p>

"Can we call it a night?" Yoh pleaded.

"No. We're getting closer to the Patch Village, and we might as well travel during the night instead of in the hot day." Anna said, not bothering to stop and look at Yoh. He sweat-dropped and continued walking.

Soon, it got even darker than it was before. Everyone's eyes were starting to close (except for Faust's, since he was used to this) and yawn.

"Can we please sleep now?" Yoh yawned.

"Not yet." Anna said. She was tired as well, but she wouldn't ever admit it.

"Why?" Yoh asked.

"Because you still have to fight me!" A voice yelled from above. Everyone immediately looked up, and in the very dim moonlight, they managed to make out a shape of a bird and a person in the air.

"It's that little kid again!" Ryu cried.

"Yeah, the one who attacked me before!" Yoh cried. Miko smirked (although no one could tell in the darkness) and he swooped down. The claws of his hawk kite tore at Chocolove, leaving a small gash on his arm.

"Chocolove!" HoroHoro cried.  
>"I'm OK… It's just a cut." Chocolove said. In the blink of an eye, everyone had Oversouled.<br>"Damn… Where'd the little brat go?" Ryu grumbled.

"It's too dark to see anything!" HoroHoro complained.

"Hmph. I don't need to see it- I can still hear him!" Ren cried, jumping up into the air.

Risa nudged Kairi's hand. Kairi looked at her spirit for a while, totally confused. Ren landed on the ground. He had hit nothing at all.

"Really? You can still hear him?" HoroHoro asked, unimpressed.

"Shut up! That's where I thought he was!" Ren cried angrily.

Kairi was still staring at her spirit bat. Her eyebrows were knitted- until she finally realized it.

"You can see in the dark, right?" Kairi asked. Risa nodded. "Can you tell me? _Oú est-il? (_Where is he?)"

Risa took a moment to nod, before she flew into Kairi's body. A bright light came out of Kairi's eyes, and a split second later, she could see perfectly.

"Up!" she cried, pointing at Miko in the sky. Of course, no one else saw him

"All right!" Yoh cried. He jumped up to where Kairi was more or less pointing and attacked all around him. He didn't hit anything.

"Over there!" Kairi cried, pointing to the right. HoroHoro grunted and attacked. He managed to hit him somewhere, causing Miko to groan a bit.

"He flew again!" Kairi exclaimed as she pointed to him up in the air.

Ryu ran at it and attacked. It hit the Oversoul head on, ripping off the kite's wings in the process. Miko smirked.

"If I'm gonna lose, I'm going to at least do more damage!" Miko yelled. He gripped his Oversoul and aimed at one person in the group.

"Damn! Who is he aiming for?" Chocolove cried. (Remember that they can't see anything)

Miko came closer to Ren.

_Spiky!_ Kairi thought, with panic in her eyes, She ran at Ren and tackled him to the ground, just in time. Miko's kite barley missed Kairi and Ren. The kite went up into flames, and Miko scrambled off somewhere.

Kairi and Ren stared at each other for a while, both confused, They were still in the same position that Kairi had tackled him to avoid the attack.

"_De rien_" (You're welcome) Kairi muttered after a while. She got up and dusted herself off.

_Dammit, I'm getting soft! They're going to have to die sooner or later…_ Kairi thought. She felt her eyes close, and then she fell to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

><p>Kairi's eyes slowly flickered open. She was lying on a soft bed in a place she had never seen before. There were only windows in the room, but the kept it well lit, anyways. Kairi sat up. She had a heavy quilt on her legs<p>

_Where am I? Judging by the room… somewhere Native American, maybe? Maybe even… the Patch Village?_

Kairi threw the quilt off of herself. She walked up to the door (which was surprisingly unlocked) and exited the room. There was no one in sight, so she decided to walk around. When Kairi saw the ruins (or the village) she smiled widely.

_Finally. I have arrived at the Patch Village. …But how did I get here? Never mind, it doesn't matter._

* * *

><p>So... yeah! That's it for this chapter! Honestly, I wasn't expecting to use Miko again... oh well, it turned out well. Please Review!<p> 


	14. No More Hurting

Hello! Merry Late Christmas! I hope that you all had a good one!

I'm going to try to upload the next chapter on January 1st (a VERY special day) and the chapter will be very random :P

BUT... I might not have internet access, so... yeah, please be flexible about it.

Also, all of Kairi's thoughts are really in French, but I don't feel like writing all of it in French. Just to be clear about it :)

* * *

><p><em>Another pretty seashell!<em> Kairi thought as she picked up a slightly pink shell from the water and placed it in her arms. She had been walking in the beach for quite some time now, and she had found more than just a couple of pretty shells.

"A-hem. What are you doing here, Kaya?" a voice asked behind her. Kairi quickly turned around and found herself face to face with Marco, causing her to drop all of her shells.

"Uh, are you talking to me?" She said quietly. "I'm Kairi, not Kaya."

"Same thing. The point is, what are you doing here again? Have you finally succeeded?" Marco asked, although he was clearly uninterested.

Kairi bit her lip and stayed silent.

"It's almost time for the Shaman Fight, Kay- Kairi. If you're not ready by then, then you never will." Marco said coldly. "So what will it be?"

Kairi looked down at the ground.

"…Kairi? What are you doing here?" someone said. Kairi jerked her head up and turned around.

"Speak for yourself, Spiky." Kairi said. Ren ignored her comment.

"Why are you with _them_ again?" Ren said, beckoning to the Marco. Marco smirked.

"You're welcome to come back when you're finished." He said. He walked into a huge X-Laws ship on the shore. Kairi turned around and faced Ren.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked. Ren frowned.

"I thought you left them, and are no longer a part of their group. You're with us, right?" Ren asked. Kairi stared at him. Her eyes started watering.

_Oh, mon Dur… They've… they've accepted me?_

And then Kairi ran. She ran as fast as she could, until she reached a large forest. She sat under a large tree as tears poured down her face. She buried her face into her knees and cried her eyes out.

"…Kairi? Are you OK?" Ren asked a little awkwardly. Kairi didn't bother looking up.

"_Fiche-moi la paix!"_ (leave me alone!) Kairi sobbed. Ren ignored the comment (he didn't know what she said, anyway) and leaned against the tree.

"It's not my fault that you were talking with them." He mumbled. Kairi curled up her hands into fists and she threw her head up towards Ren.

"You don't understand!" She cried with tears pouring from her eyes. "They want me to kill you! All of you! And… and I just can't do it!"

Ren's eyes widened at this.

"You're… trying to kill us?" He asked.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Kairi said. Ren sighed.

"I need to know something… You were ordered to do so from the very beginning?" Ren asked. Kairi nodded. "And are you still going to do it?"

"…_Je ne sais pas…_ I don't know what to do anymore." She said softly.

"Stand up." He said. Kairi looked up at him.

"Huh?"

"Yoh will know. Go tell him." Ren said.

"Eh~ But I can't just tell him, 'Hey, I wanted to kill you guys, am I still in your group?'" Kairi said, going back into tears.

"He helped me…" Ren said. Kairi looked up at him.

"You… you…" Kairi started.

"Yeah, the first few times we met, I was close to killing him. And I would do it, but he was strong. But when I…. needed help, he came and rescued me." Ren said reluctantly.

_Why am I telling her all of this?_ Ren thought. He wasn't usually this open with anyone. And he would never admit that he needed help.

Kairi smiled a bit and wiped off her tears with her jacket sleeve. She slowly stood up and dusted her pants off.

"_D'accord. _I'll come." Kairi said. Ren furrowed his brow.

"Stop talking in French!" he said as his tongari grew higher. Kairi laughed a bit, but didn't say anything else.

* * *

><p>"Wait- you tried to kill us?" HoroHoro cried.<p>

"…Isn't that what I just said?" Kairi asked softly. She had her head down, staring at the floor.

"The X-Laws forced her to." Ren explained.

"_Je- _I mean, I… I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to belong somewhere." Kairi said softly. Her eyes started watering again.

There was a silence after that. Yoh smiled a bit and walked closer to Kairi.

"I trust you, Kairi. You just want to be a part of a group, right? Well, you can stay with us." Yoh said. Kairi's eyes widened and she lifted her head to look at him.

"_C'est vrai? Oh, merci!_" Kairi cried happily.

"I, uh, don't know what that means." Yoh said. Kairi stopped and thought for a moment.

"Is it true? Oh, thank you!" She translated.

_Maybe… Maybe I don't have to be with the X-Laws. I'll see how this goes._ Kairi thought.

"Um, Silva told me that we need to get teams of three or four. Aparently, there's not enough shamans to have equal groups. How are we going to divide ourselves?" Yoh asked.

"There are only seven of us, though." HoroHoro said.

"Well, what about Anna?" Ryu asked.

"…I'm not sure if that's a good idea…" Yoh cringed.

"Why not? I'm strong." Anna said from behind. Yoh jumped up.

"A-Anna! W-when did you come back from the shops?" Yoh cried.

"Just now. Anyways, Yoh, you're on my group. And Faust, since you're going to be the doctor, you can be on my team as well. Ryu, you too." Anna said. Yoh, Ryu and Faust silently walked (or _rolled_, in Faust's case) over to Anna.

"Oh, and Yoh… I'm not going to fight much. I'll let you handle it." She said coldly. Yoh cringed. He didn't want to be bossed around by Anna here, too.

"All right…" Yoh said reluctantly.

"With all due respect, Mistress Anna, I believe that Master Yoh should be our leader." Ryu said immiadiatly.

"…All right." Anna replied.

"Good. My team's decided as well." Ren said, pulling in HoroHoro, Chocolove and Kairi closer to him.

"…Wait, why do I have to team up with you?" HoroHoro cried at Ren.

"You just let me handle the fighting. All you guys have to do is stay silent and be my sidekicks." Ren smirked.

"Really? That's awesome! I don't have to fight!" Chocolove cried happily.

Kairi just smiled. She was happy for now, to be with people who at least somewhat care for her. And this time, she didn't have to hide anything.

* * *

><p>There was still a month until the Shaman Fight would actually begin. The Patch had given every team a room. One was for Team 'Funbari Onsen' (as Anna had called their team) and Team 'The Ren' (which, as you can probably tell, was Ren's idea). Even though not everyone was happy about the team names, (*cough*HoroHoro*cough*) they stuck, and were now official.<p>

* * *

><p>All of the X-Laws (except for Marco and Jeanne) were lined up in a strict line. Marco was walking in front of them, going back and forth, back and forth. It was a lot like in the military. The Iron Maiden (with Jeanne inside of it) was a bit behind Marco, and in the center of the line.<p>

"Why are we in the Shaman Fight?" Marco cried sharply.

"To defeat Hao!" The X-Laws chorused.

"Why will we defeat him?" Marco asked again.

"Because he is evil!"

"How will we fight him?"

"Without mercy!"

"And who will we protect?"

"Lady Jeanne!"

"…You all pass. Let's establish teams now." Marco said, a bit softer.

* * *

><p>Kairi woke up in the night. Chocolove, HoroHoro and Ren were sleeping soundly. And HoroHoro was snoring. Maybe that was what woke her up. A thought hit her head.<p>

_It's _Javier_ (January) 1__st__ soon… I need to get something…. _Kairi thought grimly.

* * *

><p>I hope you all know what January 1st is! If not, then you'll know in the next chapter! So, bye! And Happy Early New Year!<p> 


	15. A Special Day

Oh no! I just realized that in the last chapter, I misspelled _Janvier!_ I forgot the 'n'… Yeah, it's not a big mistake, and I'll go fix it!

…I feel really sorry for Bason… He's such an awesome character (my 3rd fav) but I'm kind of ignoring him...

And I tried not to make Ren OOC... but it's kind of hard, since it's his birthday...

And lastly... It's already 2012 for me right now! It's been Ren's birthday for already *checks watch* 41 minutes ^^

* * *

><p>It was January 1st. Ren opened his eyes. He looked around the room- HoroHoro, Chocolove and Kairi were still sound asleep. HoroHoro was snoring loudly, even though Ren had clipped his nose many times during the night to make him stop. Chocolove was sprawled all over his bed, and his feet were hanging over the edge. Kairi, however, was curled up into a ball with her eyes pressed tightly together. Ren could tell that she was having a nightmare, but… he had to admit, she looked quite cute, too. Everyone, including Yoh and his team and everyone else who was not in the Shaman Fight were sleeping like rocks. They had partied all night yesterday (since it was New Year's Eve). Ren stood up and quickly took a shower and changed. He took his Kwan Dao and went outside to practice. This was the only day where he did not want to be disturbed, no matter what. He stepped into the crispy snow, but it didn't stop him from training. He swung his Kwan Dao around, hitting more than a couple of trees. However, he didn't do it with enough force to cut the trees off completely.<p>

* * *

><p>Kairi woke up. She looked at the bedside clock- it was already 8:30. She had slept in, and so had everyone else! Except for Ren, of course… Kairi got out of bed and walked over to HoroHoro. She poked his cheek.<p>

"Oi. HoroHoro. Wake up." Kairi said, poking him harder. His eyelids flickered open.

"Huh? What do you want, Kairi?" He asked sleepily.

"_Il est huit heures et demie._" Kairi said, poking him. HoroHoro (who didn't understand what she said at all) glanced over at the clock.  
>"DAMMIT, IT'S 8:30!" HoroHoro cried, jumping up. His cry woke up Chocolove, who rubbed his eyes sleepily.<p>

"Isn't that what I just said?" Kairi said. HoroHoro ignored her as he tore off his clothes and threw on new ones. Chocolove, who was barley aware of what was going on, changed quickly as well. Kairi was in shock, so she quickly ran out of the room and slammed the door.

"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" Kairi shouted. Team Funbari Onsen's door opened, and an angry Anna stepped out.

"What's all this shouting about?" She asked coldly. Kairi looked at her and pointed at her wrist. Anna looked over at the clock.

"It's 8:30. So we overslept…" Anna said. "I'll go wake up Yoh and the others."

Kairi nodded. HoroHoro and Chocolove opened the door. They were fully dressed (although sloppy) and then Kairi rushed in. She quickly changed into her orange shirt and jeans and then she quickly tied her sash around her waist. She stepped out of the room. Everyone was there already, fully dressed.

"Dammit! I can't believe we overslept!" HoroHoro cursed.

"Well, you did stay up all night- how did you expect you get up before Ren?" Manta asked.

"…I guess you're right. Still… We had this planned out perfectly." HoroHoro said.

"I guess it's going to be a surprise party now." Kairi said.

"…But Ren's not here." Abby pointed out.

"He's probably out training, like usual." Yoh said.

"So that means that we're going to have to lure him back in?" Chocolove asked.

_Lure him back in? … Pfft! That sounds so weird! It's like we're hunting him or something!_ Kairi mused.

"How long does he usually train, though?" Faust asked.

"A long time, that's for sure. And he doesn't like to be bothered on this day, so he'll probably be back at lunch time." Jun said.

"Jun! When did you get here?" Ryu asked (with hearts as his eyes).

"Hm? I was always here. I wouldn't miss my little brother's special day with his friends." Jun said happily. Bailong appeared next to her and he glared at Ryu, causing him to back off.

"Anyways, we should better start organizing it." Jun said. Everyone nodded.

* * *

><p>Ren hit the trees harder. He was happy that he was alone; even the presence of Bason would upset him now. He sighed, leaned against a tree and then slid down onto the snowy ground.<p>

_No one remembers, do they? … Pfft. I don't need it, anyway. It's not like my family had ever celebrated it, anyway. So… why am I so upset now?_ Ren thought.

* * *

><p>"Eh~ What?" Kairi cried. Everything was set up already. Now, only Ren was missing.<p>

"We need someone to get him back in here." Yoh said.

"But why me? Isn't Jun better for this?" Kairi protested.  
>"He doesn't like being disturbed by family, because we know what day it is." Jun said.<p>

"And? I also know what day it is." Kairi said.

"Yes, but you're the newest to our group, so you'd be the least likely to know." Yoh pointed out. Kairi sighed. They had a point there.

So Kairi reluctantly opened the door and exited. She looked around the snowy ground for any traces of footprints. They were there, but just barley visible. She followed them and eventually reached a small forest. She heard something like metal hitting wood, so she followed that sound.

"Spiky?" She called out. No answer. She sighed. "Ren?"

"…What do you want?" She heard a voice say. She followed it, and found Ren in the forest. She smiled a bit.

"Can you, um… help me with something?" She asked.

"With what?" He asked.

"Uh…. I want to check our team's status on my Oracle Bell." Kairi lied.

"Go ask HoroHoro." Ren replied.

"I did. He didn't know how to." Kairi said.

"Chocolove." Ren said.

"Nope, he didn't, either." Kairi replied.

"Yoh, then." Ren said.

"No, he was… being trained by Anna." Kairi lied.

"Then try Ryu or Faust." Ren said. Kairi's eye twitched.

"Just come with me!" She cried. She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him back over to the house. He showed a lot of resistance, but there was no stopping Kairi now. She dragged him into the house.

"…Fine. So where's your Oracle Bell?" Ren asked.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REN!" Everyone (including Kairi) cried. Everyone else had hid behind couches or tables or other things like that. Ren just stared at everyone wide-eyed. Nothing happened for a while after that.

"Oi, aren't you going to say something?" HoroHoro asked.

"This is… for me?" Ren asked. HoroHoro rolled his eyes.

"No, it's for a different Ren." He said sarcastically. Ren ignored his comment. He looked at Jun, over with Bailong.

"Nee-san, did you tell them?" He asked coldly. "You know that I don't celebrate this." Bason appeared next to Ren.

"It was my idea, Bocchama. I'm sorry, but I couldn't just let this day be ignored." Bason said. Ren glared at Bason.

"Ren, it's already set up. We might as well have some fun." Yoh said. Ren sighed and then nodded, slightly smiling.

* * *

><p><strong>Later…<strong>

"Here, Ren, open this one." Yoh said as he passed Ren a box wrapped in red paper. "It's from me."

Ren nodded and he started unwrapping the box. He did it really carefully, like, untaping (is that a word? :P) each piece of tape. Once he untapped it, he held up the 'Bob Love' music CD.

"Uh… thanks?" Ren said. He didn't really like 'Soul Bob' music, but it was still okay.

Yoh handed the next present. It was quite sloppily packed in blue paper. He could tell it was from HoroHoro. Ren opened it up and held up a t-shirt. It said 'Team The Ren' and it had a picture of 'The Ren' on it. Ren nodded in appreciation, and HoroHoro smiled geekily.

Yoh handed him the next present, which was a soft present wrapped in orange paper. It was neatly labeled 'from Kairi to Ren'. Kairi smiled a bit as he untapped it, but she didn't say anything. Ren opened it, and held up a plush lion.

Ren smiled a bit. "Thanks." He said. Kairi nodded at him.

* * *

><p><strong>After opening all the presents…<strong>

"Well, it's getting pretty late… We'd better go to sleep soon." Yoh said.

"Yes, especially since you have training early tomorrow." Anna said. Yoh cringed. Abby, noticing Yoh's discomfort, sighed.

"Anna, won't you give him _one_ day off?" Abby asked. Anna thought for a moment, and then shook her head. Abby looked at Yoh with an 'at-least-I-tried' look.

Everyone retired back to their rooms. HoroHoro was sleeping soundly already and Chocolove was hogging the bathroom. Kairi was already in her pair of purple pajamas, but Ren was still fully dressed.

Kairi sat down next to Ren on his bed.

"_Es-tu content?_" Kairi asked. Ren looked at her with a confused look on his face. Kairi thought for a while.

"You happy?" She asked. Ren smiled slightly and exhaled.

"Yeah, I guess I am." He said. Kairi looked at the stuffed lion that she gave him, which sat on Ren's bed as well.

"Take good care of him." She said and then stood up. She walked to her own bed, got in and then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Ren smiled as he looked at his teammates. It was nice to have a day for himself once in a while.

* * *

><p>Haha, I actually found a plush lion that I really wanted. It was really cute and fluffy and it made me think of Ren (although it wasn't a tiger) but my parents didn't let me :(<p> 


	16. Family Reunion

Randomness: Try saying 'HoroHoro' in a French accent. Seriously, do it now. … It sounds a lot like 'HohoHoho', doesn't it? :P

* * *

><p>Chocolove poked Kairi's right cheek. She was still asleep in bed, but Chocolove, HoroHoro and Ren were wide awake.<p>

"Wake up, Kairi. We have a battle in an hour." Chocolove said as he poked her cheek some more. Kairi turned over and pulled the covers over her head. She mumbled something in gibberish. Chocolove sighed.

"She's not waking up." He complained to HoroHoro and Ren. HoroHoro sighed and walked over to her. He pulled down the covers from her face. Kororo appeared next to the blue haired Ainu and she blew cold air over Kairi's face. Kairi sat up in an instant, breathing in deeply.

"What was that for?" She cried.

"Get up and change. We have a battle soon." Ren said. Kairi rubbed her eyes and sighed.

After the battle, (A/N: I'm guessing that all of you know how it ends, so I'm trying not to make it boring) Team the Ren, Team Funbari Onsen, Anna, Tamao, Abby, Delphi and Manta entered the local restaurant, The King's Corn (A/N: I think that's the name…) They sat down at a large table in teams (meaning that Funbari Onsen sat together, etc.)

"I still can't believe that you didn't do anything, HoroHoro." Yoh laughed. HoroHoro jumped up.

"It's not my fault! They were stealing my spotlight!" HoroHoro shrieked.

"Well, maybe next time you can do everything by yourself, HoroHoro." Manta smiled. HoroHoro froze.

"…Nah. It's okay." He said, and then sat down.

The food arrived soon afterwards, and everyone ate. After a while, Kairi got up.

"Where are you going?" Ren asked, eyeing her.

"…_Le toilet_. Do you need to know everything?" Kairi asked, rolling her eyes. She left before Ren had a chance to answer to that.

* * *

><p>Kairi washed her hands at the sink. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, and then left. As she walked towards the table in which her friends were seated, someone caught her. It was a woman in her 30s who was standing outside of the restaurant window. The woman waved at Kairi, and after a while, Kairi awkwardly waved back.<p>

* * *

><p>"What's your mom doing here?" Everyone yelled. Kairi shrugged. She was standing in front of the table, and by her side was the woman from outside. Her mom.<p>

"I came to cheer on Kairi." Kairi's mom said happily. She had long black hair that reached down to her back. She was wearing a brown, knee-length skirt and a black business coat.

"Mr. Karim sent me an invitation and a free plane ticket." Kairi's mom continued. Everyone else looked at each other with the same facial expression '_they want money'._

"Well, nice to meet you, Ms.… uh…." Yoh started.

"Mariline." Kairi's mom added.

"Ms. Mariline." Yoh said.

"…_Maman?_ How about _Papa et mes frère?_" Kairi asked. (How about Dad and my brothers?)

"_Papa_ stayed with Dai and Kei You know how troublesome your brothers can be… especially since they're only 6 years old." Ms. Mariline said. Kairi nodded.

"…Excuse me if this sounds rude, but… you two don't look anything alike." Abby said. Kairi glared at her. This was a touchy subject.

"My husband and I adopted Kairi." Ms. Mariline said cheerfully. "She was just a few years old when it happened…"

Kairi sighed. Her mom would keep on babbling for ages.

"…and then we were blessed with two little boys, Dai and Kei-" Ms. Mariline continued, but Kairi cut her off.

"C'est agréable d'être venue, maman, mais s'il vous plaît arrêter de parler." Kairi said. (It's nice of you to come, mom, but please stop talking)  
>"Why not? And please don't speak in French when your friends don't understand it." Kairi's mom scolded. Kairi cringed. "Anyways, Kairi, show me your team. It's three other guys, right?"<p>

"…Chocolove, HoroHoro _et_ Ren." Kairi said as she pointed to each of them in turn.

"That's not really a proper introduction, is it? Oh well, I guess it's okay. Hello, Chocolove, HoroHoro and Len!" Ms. Mariline said. Ren cleared his throat.

"It's Ren. Not Len." He said. Ms. Mariline nodded.

"Of course… How silly of me." She said. Kairi covered her face with her hands. Her mom was embarrassing her big-time.

"Your team name is so strange. 'The Ren.' What kind of name is that?" Ms. Mariline turned to Kairi. Once again, Ren cleared his throat. "…Right! That's your name, isn't it? Well, it's a wonderful team name, Ren."

"Didn't you just call it a strange name?" HoroHoro asked.

"No, I didn't." Ms. Mariline said.

"Yes, you did." HoroHoro responded.

"No, I didn't." Kairi's mom repeated.

"Yes, you did." HoroHoro said, getting quite annoyed.

"No, I didn't." Ms. Mariline said once again. HoroHoro was getting really angry now.

"HOORAY, I hit it!" Chocolove shouted. No one said anything. "Go on, laugh."

"… How… can… anyone… ever… laugh… at… your… STUPID JOKES?" HoroHoro and Ren shouted at the same time, before proceeding to hit Chocolove many times.

Kairi sighed once more. Her mom looked at her with a smile.

"Gee, it must be hard to live with them." She said. Kairi nodded. "But I'm sure you're managing. They can't be worse than Dai and Kei, can they?"

Kairi nodded and smiled. But in her head, she was thinking, '_…No, it's worse than my brothers…'_

"You must've been surprised to see your mom, right?" HoroHoro asked. Kairi nodded, but she didn't say anything.

* * *

><p>Team The Ren was back in their room, and everyone was sitting on their beds. It was already dark outside.<p>

"Too bad that the Patch tribe is only trying to earn money from her." Chocolove said. Kairi looked over at him.

"Actually… they won't." Kairi said softly. "We don't have a lot of money, so… yeah. …That's why I went to Japan alone, because they couldn't afford tickets."

"Is that also why you never argue about where to eat?" Chocolove asked. Kairi laughed and nodded.

HoroHoro and Chocolove smiled. It was nice to make her laugh. Even Ren smiled a bit (although no one saw). Kairi laughed rarely, but when she did, it was full of happiness.

* * *

><p><strong>The next day…<strong>

"And the winner is… Team Funbari Onsen!" Radim announced from the loud speaker. A loud roar of happiness was heard from the audience that witnessed the Shaman Fight. Team Funbari Onsen had won against Team Icemen.

"Yay! Your friends won!" Ms. Mariline applauded. Kairi sighed and then nodded.

"I know, _maman_. I was watching the fight." Kairi said. Her mom smiled sheepishly.

"The next fight will be X-I against Team Niles!" Radim announced over the loud speaker.

_Those are the X-Laws._ Kairi thought grimly.

"The fight will be held in 10 minutes!" Radim continued.

"Kairi, are you coming?" Ren asked, slightly annoyed. He, HoroHoro, Chocolove and the rest of the 'gang' were already up. Kairi nodded and left with them.

* * *

><p>"Are you scared, Saki?" Lyserg asked his friend. Saki looked at him.<p>

"Me? Scared? I don't think so." Saki laughed.

"Really? Then prove it!" Lyserg said. Saki smirked.

"Sure thing, I don't mind." Saki said. Lyserg smiled.

* * *

><p>"Hah! This time, it was Anna who didn't do any fighting!" HoroHoro cried. Anna eyed HoroHoro coldly, causing him to cringe.<p>

"Yes, but the difference is that I'm not _planning_ on doing any fighting." Anna said. They were back in the audience, waiting for the next fight to begin.

"It's not like he has to do any fighting." Ren said. His eyes lit up, "I can do it all by myself."

"Then why did you ask Chocolove to fight in the last one?" Kairi asked. Ren froze, but he had no answer to that.

"All right! Let the next fight begin! Team Niles," Radim said as four ancient Egyptain looking guys entered the stage. "Against Team X-I!"

Four familiar looking figures appeared on stage. Saki, Lyserg, Marco, and the unmistakable shape of the Iron Maiden haunted Kairi's eyes.


	17. Memory Awakened

Yes, I know that this chapter isn't much. It's short because the next chapter will be really important, and I want it all to be in one chapter.

…And I feel that this chapter is a bit rushed. But that's how I meant it to be.

* * *

><p>Kairi felt her stomach lurch. She wasn't sure if she was ready to watch the X-Laws' battle.<p>

"What is this? A man, two children and a lump of metal? Are you mocking us?" Someone from the Niles said. He was wearing a large Anubis mask. The X-Laws glared at them, but they stayed silent, waiting for the Holy Maiden to speak.

"…Saki, Lyserg, take care of them. I'm sure you can do it." The unmistakable voice of Jeanne said from inside the Iron Maiden.

"Are you sure, Jeanne-sama?" Saki asked.

"…I can't say that I believe in myself, but if Jeanne-sama does, then I'll try." Lyserg said. Saki nodded.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to kill you." Saki said. "Vine Wrappings!"

Vines suddenly grew out of the ground and wrapped around the priest man (the fourth member of Team Niles). He let out a piercing scream and he fell to the ground, unconscious, maybe even dead.

"Good job, Saki." The Iron Maiden said. Saki beamed with pride, but she didn't say anything. Lyserg stared blankly at the unconscious man on the ground.

"But you, Lyserg… You are a despicable boy!" Marco cried as he slapped him across the cheek. A large, throbbing mark was left on his face, and of course, the blank look was lost.

"I'm sorry! It was Morphine's fault!" Lyserg shouted.

"Do you think I'm blind, Lyserg Diethel?" Marco asked as he pushed up his glasses. "I saw you stop your attack. It was _your_ fault."

"I'm… I'm sorry!" Lyserg sobbed. A sigh was heard from the Holy Maiden.

"Never mind, Lyserg. I will take care of this now." The Iron Maiden said. It opened up, and the bloody figure of Jeanne stepped out of it. Saki walked over to Lyserg and helped him back up again.

"Are you okay?" She whispered. Lyserg nodded slightly.

"If you three apologize for your sins, we won't have to kill you." Jeanne said in a creepy-doll voice.

"What sins? We didn't do anything wrong!" the three men cried. They all jumped up in the direction of Jeanne.

The Holy Iron Maiden sighed. "Why don't you just want to live in peace and justice?" She asked. "Oh well… I feel sorry for you."

Jeanne turned away and she walked back into her Iron Maiden. The lid closed, and bloody tears rolled down the Iron face.

"Shamash… Kill them." Jeanne said simply.

In a blink of an eye, the remaining members of the Niles were trapped in guillotines. One by one, their heads were chopped off, bleeding terribly, even after the death. Their bodies dropped to the ground, leaving only the X-Laws in the stadium.

"Marco, we're done here." Jeanne said. Marco scurried up to her.

"Yes, Jeanne-sama." He nodded, and along with Lyserg and Saki, they left the battle area.

* * *

><p>Kairi was still staring at the stage area. She had a blank look of terror written all over her face. Ms. Mariline looked at her daughter.<p>

"Kairi, are you okay, dear?" She asked.

Kairi blinked her eyes once and then jumped up. She didn't bother looking at either her mom or her friends. Instead, she simply started sprinting out of the coliseum.

"Kairi! Kairi, come back!" Her mother cried after her, but Kairi couldn't hear her.

_They… they killed those people in just seconds! And I they're probably not feeling guilty… Dammit! And to think that I could've been like that!_ Kairi thought. She continued running.

Suddenly, a figure appeared before her. She stopped, and stumbled onto the ground.

"Hao!" She gasped. Hao came up to Kairi and looked her in the face.

"Hello, Kairi." He said cheerfully.

"What… what do you want?" She asked.

"I want to help you." Hao said. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"I don't need or _want_ your help." She said.

"Why? Because you're upset about the fight with the X-Laws, right?" Hao asked.

_Right… I forgot that he can read minds…_ Kairi thought grimly.

"Well, that was exactly what I wanted to help you with." Hao said. Puzzled, Kairi looked up at him.

"You don't remember, do you?" Hao smirked.

"Remember what?" Kairi asked.

"The day when I killed your parents." Hao said.

Kairi could swear that flames were dancing in his eyes. As she stared into those flames, her eyes slowly closed, until at last, her body fell onto the ground with a loud 'thump'.

And then Kairi's mom, her team, and everyone else came running. They saw Kairi on the laying floor, and Hao up in the air, getting farther and farther away on his Spirit of Fire.

"Kairi! Kairi! Are you okay?" Ms. Mariline asked desperately as she picked up Kairi's unconscious body into her arms.

"…She doesn't look like she's in any physical danger," Faust said, "she's only unconscious."

HoroHoro, Chocolove and Ren stared at their fallen comrade. She looked so vulnerable, laying there limply in her mother's arms. However, something caught Ren's eye.

"Is… is her hair turning white?" He asked slowly.

Everyone froze, and then they slowly turned their heads toward Kairi. Her usual chocolate brown hair was slowly turning into white at the top of her head. Only a few centimeters were the new color, but the rest looked fine. However, the white was spreading.

Kairi's mom lifted her daughter up onto her back, and they slowly started going towards the inn.

* * *

><p>Parody time:<p>

"Do you think I'm blind, Lyserg Diethel?" Marco asked as he pushed up his glasses.

"_Well_… You do wear glasses. Maybe they slipped off of your nose?" Lyserg guessed.

* * *

><p>...Yeah, that Parody thing was random XD.<p>

Oh well, hope you enjoy it! The next chapter will be _really_important!


	18. Kaya and Jenny

Whoo! Finally, it's up! ...Well, yeah, I actually wrote this a week ago, but I had to make you guys wait. Sorry! I think this chapter will be fun ^^. At least it was fun writing it.

Random: My dad says that sense of humor depends on your intelligence. So... what if Chocolove's jokes are very, very, very funny, but only to super-smart people? ...Or would it be the other way around? :P

* * *

><p>Kairi's unconscious body was on her bed in her team's room. She was sweating horribly, so every now and then, one of her teammates would put a wet towel on her forehead. The top part of her hair was pure white, but the bottom was still a natural brown color.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>-Dream Thing—<strong>

_A young girl, maybe around 6, was sitting on a large red couch. She had pure white hair, which was strange for her age, but her eyes were a normal brown. A smaller girl was sitting next to her. They looked like sisters. The younger girl had silver hair and red eyes._

_"Kaya… I'm bored." The smaller girl complained to her sister._

_"What do you want to do, then, Jenny?" Kaya asked. Her little sister thought for a while._

_"Let's play a game! Hide-and-go-seek!" Jenny cried happily. Kaya smiled._

_"All right. We can play. You hide first. I'll count to 50." Kaya said. Jenny smiled and jumped off of the couch. "Just remember- no hiding in mommy and daddy's special room! It's dangerous there."_

_"Okay!" The little girl cried, and she ran off somewhere into the house. Kaya covered her eyes with her hands, and she started counting._

* * *

><p><em>"48…. 49… 50! Ready or not, here I come!" Kaya shouted. She jumped off of the couch and grinned. It was obvious where her sister would hide. She chose the same place every time they played.<em>

_ Kaya proceeded to her mother and father's bedroom. It looked really old, but that was only because of the furniture. Kaya and Jenny's parents were studying the medieval times, so every thing was old fashioned, and most things were dangerous. Kaya opened her mother closet. It was filled with frilly dresses from the 16th century. Her sister's familiar face was hidden in between the pink and the blue dress._

_" I found you, Jenny!" Kaya said happily. Jenny slowly exited the closet._

_"Ok, sis! Now it's your turn to hide!" The silver-haired girl said happily. Kaya nodded._

_But before Jenny could even start counting, both of the girls heard a piercing scream from inside the house. Jenny looked at Kaya with pure terror._

_"Why… why is mommy…. Why is mommy screaming?" Jenny asked. Kaya couldn't find an answer for that._

_"Let's… let's go check." She said, although her voice was shaking. She took Jenny by the hand, and together, they started walking in the way of the scream._

_"Well, well, well… I found the kiddies!" A voice said from behind. Kaya and Jenny turned around in terror. There was a large, fat man behind them. A large panda spirit was floating next to him. The panda went inside a sharp thing, and the man aimed for Kaya and Jenny. They barley dodged it by falling to the ground, and started running as fast as they could. They disappeared behind a corner, causing the large man to lose track of them._

_"Jenny! Jenny! Come here, don't let him find you!"_ _Kaya cried._

_"Kaya! Where are we going?" Jenny yelled back. Tears were pouring down the little girls face, and her words were barley understandable through her cries._

_"Let's find mommy and daddy. They're going to help us." Kaya said, choking back tears._

_The sisters ran as fast as they could. They were still going in the direction of their mother's scream which they heard earlier. Unfortunately, as they turned around a corner, they found a large flame wall blocking their path. Kaya could see three figures. One was a child, maybe around her age. He was holding up two limp bodies. Kaya could tell they were dead. And she could tell that those bodies were her parents. Jenny turned to her sister._

_"Kaya… What now?" Jenny asked, still crying. Kaya looked down at her with watering eyes._

_"Follow me." She choked. And once more, Kaya tugged her little sister into another room._

* * *

><p>Lyserg knocked on Yoh's door. Anna opened the door and scowled.<p>

"Marco sent me. May I see Faust?" Lyserg huffed. It was obvious that he sprinted here.

"Why do you need to see Faust? He's busy right now." Anna said coldly.

"It's because… Jeanne-sama has fallen unconscious for an unknown reason." Lyserg said. Anna's eyes widened.

"…So is Kairi…" She mumbled and closed the door.

* * *

><p><em>"But… this is mommy and daddy's dangerous room!" Jenny realized. The room was filled with knives, guillotines, electric chairs and other torture instruments.<em>

_"It is. But it's the only option." Kaya said. She walked over to an Iron Maiden which was at least twice her size, and she opened it. It was filled with spikes._

_"Jenny, listen carefully," Kaya said as she looked at her little sister. "Stay in there, and don't let anyone find you. Pretend it's hide-and-go-seek."_

_"What…? Me? In there?" Jenny asked. Kaya nodded. "How about you?"_

_"I'm… I'm going to be okay." Kaya said, although she really didn't know. Jenny nodded, and with the help of her big sister, she stepped into the iron cabinet._

_"We'll… we'll see each other again, right?" Jenny asked. She wiped the tears off of her face and tried to smile. Kaya nodded._

_"I think we will." She said. And with those words, Kaya closed the Iron Maiden, giving her last silent goodbye to her sister._

There are no other hiding places here…._ Kaya thought in distress. Her only other option was to run outside through the flames. So that's what she did, although it burned her terribly. Her face and clothes were scorched, and they were close to falling apart completely._

_The white-haired girl sat outside her burning house, as she cried herself to sleep._

* * *

><p>"This… this is like that first time…" Ms. Mariline said softly. She was sitting on Kairi's bed, tending to her daughter. HoroHoro, Chocolove and Ren were sitting in their room as well.<p>

"What… what do you mean?" HoroHoro asked.

"When… when I first met Kairi, she was 6 years old. Her hair was white back then, just like it is now. Almost. I found her outside of a burned house, and she was unconscious. I figured that she had just lost her family, so I took her in. And while she was still unconscious, I hypnotized her." Ms. Mariline said.

"You…. Hypnotized her?" Ren asked.

"Yes… To make her forget her painful past, and with that, her hair color changed to brown. I still don't know how it happened..." Kairi's mom said. "Of course, my husband and I told her about her family being dead and all, but she was okay with it, because she didn't even remember them."

"….Do you think that she's regaining her memory? That would explain the hair color." Chocolove asked. Kairi's mom shrugged sadly.

A moment of silence passed by. Ren sighed, dipped a towel in cool water and placed it on Kairi's forehead. She shifted slightly. It's been 3 days since she fell unconscious, and only now did everyone realize how important she is to their group. Her hair was almost completely white now. Ren gazed at her sleeping face, and then turned away. In that exact moment, Kairi's eyes flickered open.

"Kairi! You're awake!" HoroHoro cried first. But Kairi didn't say anything. She sat up, looked around and then jumped out of her bed (and the towel on her forehead fell off). Kairi sprinted out of the room.

"Oi! Kairi! Come back!" HoroHoro cried. Ren jumped up and ran after her, as did Chocolove and HoroHoro.

"Hey… what's all the commotion about?" Yoh asked as he passed Ren, HoroHoro and Chocolove in the hallway.

"Kairi's… awake…" Chocolove puffed, before he continued to run after her.

* * *

><p><em>I… I have to go see her…<em> Kairi thought as she ran towards the beach. The images in her head were still vivid, and they haunted her mind.

After running for some time, Kairi arrived at the beach. She ran into the large X-Laws boat, not bothering to knock.

Ren, HoroHoro, Chocolove and Yoh ran in after her. All of the X-Laws were seated at a coffee table, and they were playing some card game. The Iron Maiden was seated on a couch. She looked as if she just woke up from something. The X-Laws stared at the intruders for a long moment.

"What are you doing, running into our ship like that?" Marco yelled as soon as he realized that people had come into their hiding place.

Kairi ignored him, and she walked up to Jeanne.

"Did… did you see that as well… Jenny?" Kairi huffed.


	19. Alone Again

Hello! Just wanted to say thanks to those who reviewed my story!

Oh... and I believe that I'm going to start a new story soon, 'Kingdom of Lonely Hearts', so be on the lookout for that! It'll be RenxKairi as well ^_^

* * *

><p>"Did… Did you see that as well… Jenny?" Kairi huffed.<p>

The X-Laws were staring at Kairi as if she was crazy. Maybe it was because she ran into their boat, or maybe because they were used to seeing her with brown hair.

Jeanne looked up at Kairi and stood up.

"Yes… I've seen it all, Kaya. From the game of hide-and-go-seek to the Iron Maiden." Jeanne said. Kairi smiled softly.

"I told you that we'd see each other again." The white-haired girl said quietly. Jeanne nodded happily.

"No! I absolutely forbid this!" Marco cried. He had jumped up in anger and threw his cards (which turns out that they were playing Yu-Gi-Oh! XD) in the air.

"Marco…" Jeanne looked at him. "What on earth are you talking about?"  
>"You don't know… None of you know what I went through to stop this day from happening!" Marco cried. His glasses had fallen off of one ear in his frustration, and he adjusted them.<br>"Wait- what's going on?" Yoh asked in confusion. Marco looked at him grimly.

"Kairi- or should I say, _Kaya, _and Jeanne are sisters. Or Jenny, as that is Jeanne-sama's real name." Marco said.

"What so bad about that? Why did you have to hide it?" HoroHoro asked. Everyone stared at Marco, expecting a story, but Marco stayed silent for a while. Finally, he sat down.

"I found Jeanne-sama in an Iron Maiden many years ago. She was 4 years old at that time in a burning house," Marco started.

"Wait, why did you go into that house anyway?" Chocolove interrupted. Marco scowled.

"I knew that Hao had burned down that house because the Shamans that lived there didn't agree to be his allies in the Shaman Fight later on. I went in, looking for survivors." Marco said. Chocolove nodded. "Only later did I find out that the girls- Jenny's- sister had put her in there. It inspired me, and that's how the Holy Iron Maiden was born."

_So technically… it's my fault that Jeanne is an Iron Maiden now? _Kairi thought.

"I assumed that her older sister- Kaya, or Kairi- was dead, because I couldn't find her body anywhere. So I assumed it was safe to change Jenny's life; I took her in, changed her name to Jeanne, convinced her that she was a Holy girl and erased her memories from before." Marco said. He stayed silent for a while and looked away from Jeanne's eyes.

"But when Kairi appeared in our base many years later, I was afraid. Afraid that she would awaken Jeanne-sama's memories from before. If that would happen- which it did- then Jeanne-sama would know that she was just an ordinary girl, and then we'd loose all of our hope to defeat Hao." Marco said. No one said anything for a long time, as they were still soaking up Marco's story.

At last, Jeanne smiled. She walked over to Marco and lifted his chin up, so that he would look her in the eyes.

"It's okay, Marco. I forgive you." Jeanne said sweetly. Marco looked back at her with pleading eyes.

"…Thank you, Jeanne-sama." He said softly.

"And Marco… I knew that I was just a normal girl for some time already." Jeanne said. "But that won't stop us from defeating Hao. I promise."

Marco smiled. "Of course. How could I have been so stupid? Your forgiveness is most merciful."

Kairi frowned. In fact, she had been frowning for quite some time now.

"Maybe Jeanne is forgiving, but to me, this just seems cruel." Kairi said coldly, looking at Marco. "You forced me to attack innocent people _twice_, then pushed me off of the Angel that I was sitting on after the Patch Plane disappeared. When I finally met you again, you were horribly cruel to me, and I had no idea what I had done wrong. You ordered me to kill my new friends more than once. You have no idea how much I had suffered, Marco, and I thought that there would be a better reason for this than keeping Jeanne's past a secret."

Marco avoided everyone's eyes as the X-Laws were soaking the story in.

"Wait… Marco pushed you off of that Angel? He said that you fell off by accident…" Lyserg gasped. Marco was still staring at the ground.

"Yes. I admit that I've done that," Marco said softly, "But it was all for the best."

Kairi snorted. "Yeah, I've got to agree with that. If you hadn't pushed me off back then, I would've ended up like the rest of you."

Kairi stomped out of the room without saying another word. Once the X-Laws boat was out of sight, she started running again. She had no idea where she was going. Kairi just knew that she had to get away from everyone, both her friends and her enemies. Sometimes, it was just better to be alone.

* * *

><p>She ended up running into a large forest, and climbed up the first sturdy tree she saw. Kairi leaned against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. She was sitting up on the tallest branch she could find, and the wind was softly blowing her hair back and forth. It was getting darker.<p>

…_That day… it changed my life. But… if it hadn't happened, would I be the same person I am now? … Probably not. First of all, I never would've met ma Maman, mon Papa et mes frères (My mom, my dad and my brothers). And I wouldn't have met Risa… or Yoh… or Ren… or anyone else._ Kairi thought sadly.

She breathed in and out, in and out, trying to concentrate on only that, because she might have burst out in tears if she thought about anything else.

* * *

><p>Ren knew where Kairi had gone. From what he remembered, she would always run away to forests, just to stay alone.<p>

"Oi! Ren, where are you going?" HoroHoro cried, as he followed Ren outside of the X-Laws boat.

"Hey! Wait up for me!" Chocolove yelled, and he ran out to catch up with his teammates.

"I'm going to find Kairi." Ren said simply, although he didn't slow his walking pace.

"And how would you know where she is?" HoroHoro asked, kind of suspiciously.

"She always goes to the same place." Ren responded.

* * *

><p>After just a few minutes of walking, they arrived in a very thick forest.<p>

"How are we supposed to find her in here? There are a million trees!" HoroHoro cried out in frustration.

"Aren't you supposed to be nature-loving?" Chocolove asked calmly. HoroHoro just glared at him. "Wait… I think I hear something."

The three boys stopped and listened for a while.

"You're right…" HoroHoro mumbled. Coming up from somewhere above, although the noise was faint, they could hear soft sniffling sounds.

All three of them looked up at a nearby tree, and as expected, there was Kairi. She was sitting backwards to them, gently leaning against the tree. Every now and then, she'd wipe her eyes, or blow her nose into something.  
>"…Kairi…" Chocolove said softly. Kairi jerked her head up, and slowly turned around. As soon as she spotted them, she rolled her eyes and turned back to her original position.<p>

"_Ah… c'est vous…" _Kairi mumbled, and quickly wiped her face again. (Ah… It's you…)

HoroHoro and Chocolove exchanged confused looks, and then shrugged.

"I have no idea what you just said… but… if you want to talk about it…" HoroHoro suggested. Kairi didn't respond to that at all.

"Geez… how _do_ you talk to women?" Chocolove whispered. "You guys have sisters, you should know."

"Yeah, but Jun isn't like Kairi." Ren mumbled. HoroHoro nodded. "Neither is Pirika."

No one said anything for a few long minutes. Kairi sniveled some more. Finally, Ren sighed.  
>"Kairi," he started. Kairi clenched her hands into fists, "you can't keep this all inside yourse-"<p>

"_Vous ne comprenez pas!_ (You don't understand) None of you do!" Kairi yelled, interrupting Ren. She turned around to face them, with tears streaming down her face, "Sometimes, it's just best to be left alone! So please! Please, just go away!"

Ren, HoroHoro and Chocolove just stared at the crying figure up in the tree. They had nothing to say, and they had nothing to do.

"Just… just go away…" Kairi sobbed.

* * *

><p>And there you have it! Now you know why Marco was so mean to Kairi. Thanks for reading this chapter! ^^<p> 


	20. Unlucky Day

Hello again! Uh, first of all, sorry for the delay. The... very long.. delay. But I'm still going to finish this story no matter what, so stay tuned. And, sorry about this chapter. I think it's a bit too random, but it leads into the next chapter.

* * *

><p>Kairi cleared her throat one more time, and then entered the inn. It was dark already, and the rest of her friends were inside, already in their pajamas. Kairi didn't bother knocking on the door, she just went inside and found her friends watching TV in the living room. As Kairi entered, she received a few encouraging looks from them.<p>

"_Sa… Salut…_" Kairi said softly, and then sat down at the tea table. (H… Hi…) She poured herself some tea, but she didn't drink the hot liquid just yet.

"_Je suis désolé._" She said, (I am sorry) and then thought for a moment. "I just needed some time to come to myself. I guess I over-reacted."

_I have to be stronger… I can't let anyone see me suffer again._ Kairi thought grimly. Her friends just nodded silently, drinking their tea. Finally, Anna stood up.

"I'm going to sleep." She stated simply.

Kairi stared at her reflection in the mirror. _I hate this hair color. _She thought absent-mindedly. The whole idea having Jeanne as a sister- or having _any_ sort of sister, for that matter- was totally baffling. Perhaps it was too much for her to handle, causing her emotions to turn out much simpler than they should have been.

Finally, the French girl sighed and tied her long, now silver hair into a loose bun. The lights flickered off as she left the bathroom and crawled under the thin covers on her bed.

"_Bonne nuit…_ Good night." Kairi whispered to no one. Sleep came over her immediately.

* * *

><p>-Dream—<p>

"_Kaya, won't you help your sister put on her boots?" A tall woman with brown hair said cheerfully, although she wasn't really asking. She was buttoning up her coat in front of a mirror next to a man with silver hair. Her husband._

"_But _maman_… why can't she do it herself?" A small, white haired girl complained. She was bundled up in many layers of clothes._

"_Kaya…" Her dad growled. Kaya sighed, and reluctantly put her sister's boots on her feet. Jenny smiled and jumped off the chair.  
>"Merci, sœur." She said happily. <em>(Thank you, sister.) _Their dad opened the door, and Jenny ran outside, giggling madly. "Come on, Kaya! Let's play! Play!"_

_Kaya stared after her little sister for a split second, and then broke out into a wide grin. "Wait for me!" She cried, running after her sister._

_As Kaya ran on, her sister was suddenly engulfed in flames. Kaya stopped abruptly. "Jenny? Jenny?" She cried out. No reply. "Jenny…" Kaya's eyes started watering. She turned around. "Maman! Papa! Jenny's gone!" Kaya sobbed. Her parents ran towards her, holding their arms out to embrace their sobbing daughter. But before they could do anything, they were engulfed in flames as well. Kaya stopped crying for a brief moment._

"…Maman_…? …_Papa_…? Wh-where are y-you?" Kaya stuttered before bursting out in tears again. She hardly noticed that she was now completely surrounded by flames, and they were coming in closer by the second._

* * *

><p>Kairi woke up sweaty and panting.<p>

_Was… was that just a dream?_ She thought. She closed her eyes for a while, simply to calm herself down. _Yes, it must have been. It couldn't have been a flashback… after all, my real parents died inside the house... and Jenny- I mean, Jeanne, is still alive._

She opened her eyes once again, and stood up. She walked to the nearest window and looked outside. It was dark outside, but quite nice. The moon was shining brightly, and the stars twinkled in the sky.

Kairi opened the window and climbed out onto the wooden pane. She sat down on it, dangling her feet under the vast emptiness below. She leaned against the wooden sides of the windowsill and simply sat there. She didn't think about anything. Neither did she do anything else. It was simply nice to have a moment of blankness in her head.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kairi awoke up on the hard, cold floor. It seems she had fallen asleep on the windowsill, and fell back onto the floor. She rubbed her aching back and got up, cursing in French under her breath.<p>

_Good thing I didn't fall the _other_ way, _Kairi shuddered.

Once she was back on her feet, Kairi looked around. It took the foggy-minded girl some time to come back to herself. She rubbed her eyes one more time, and groaned slightly. Her teammates had left her!

_They probably left for breakfast without me, _she thought grimly.

Kairi quickly changed out of her pajamas and back into her usual orange t-shirt and denim blue pants. She grabbed her black sash and jumped down the stairs, Risa floating behind her. Kairi was halfway down the stairs when she ran past a mirror. She stopped abruptly and took a few steps backwards to face the mirror. Kairi groaned as she looked at her hair. Not only was it the strange, white color now, but she had also forgotten to brush it.

* * *

><p>Kairi walked into the kitchen, grumbling silently to herself. She looked up and saw that her teammates had, once again, left her. The only person in the kitchen was Tamao, who was singing softly to herself as she washed the dishes. Kairi walked over to the fridge silently and pulled out an apple.<p>

_So many milk bottles… _Kairi mused to herself as she bit the apple and held it in her mouth.

She reached out to take out some orange juice, but at the same time, her arm knocked over a "traditional" plastic jar filled with "traditional" strawberry jam. **(A/N: The Patch Villagers…)** It fell to the ground with a loud clatter, causing Tamao to shriek and drop the plate she was drying. It fell to the floor and broke into many pieces.

"_Désole! _Sorry! Sorry!" Kairi cried, dropping her apple as well. She and Tamao were standing in a mess- strawberry jam, an apple, soapy water and broken dishes.

"N-no, it's my fault. Don't worry." Tamao sighed as she bent down to start cleaning up the mess. "I didn't hear you come in."

Kairi sighed as well, and copied Tamao's actions. This day wasn't going so well after all.


	21. Gone?

**Hello! Uh... yeah, sorry about the late-update. But, instead of hearing me drabble on, read this chapter! I hope you like it! Yeah, I know that I promised that the last chapter would lead up to a very interesting one... Well, sorry about that. It's not this chapter :P**

**I know that in some versions, the X-Law with the mask is called Cebin. In this, I'm calling him Kevin, because that's what his name was when I read the manga. Sorry if you think of him as Cebin…**

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><p>Kairi ran out to her "friends," already at the ring. "Thanks for waiting," She said, glaring at everyone. They just gave her blank stares. Kairi sighed, and sat down next to HoroHoro.<p>

_I wonder who's fighting this round…_she thought. She glanced around the ring, which was surprisingly empty. People were all sitting together in groups. All of Hao's men were together, talking amongst themselves. The X-Laws were together as well, although there seemed to be a smaller amount of them today. There were other groups, just the 4 group members, sitting together, yet away from everyone.

As Kairi's gaze passed over the X-Laws, something caught her eye. It was Jeanne. Waving. Kairi slowly raised her hand up into the air and waved it cautiously. The fact that she and Jeanne were so close now still baffled the French girl – and she doubted she would ever get used to it.

Ren, however spotted Kairi waving to Jeanne. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something along the lines of _"joker… no good… just like Yoh…"_

With a scowl, Kairi put her hand down and pouted. How rude of him! _Well… I guess I should just get used to this Ren… 'Cause something tells me, he's not going to change,_ she thought, rolling her eyes herself.

* * *

><p>"Let the round start! Hoshi-Gumi against X-III!" Radim shouted over the microphone. The two opposing teams said something to each other, although it was impossible to hear. However, from the look on Venstar's face, it was obvious that those weren't positive words. However, everyone on Hao's team had been able to keep their face straight – showing no emotions at all, except for coldness. And confidence, of course. But why was that a surprise?<p>

However, in that moment, Opacho and Lucifer exited the force field casually.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Venstar snapped. Hao smiled.

"Well, since Hana-Gumi's match was over so fast, I thought I could spice things up a little. I'll fight you by myself." Hao said, gesturing to the three X-Laws. "In fact, why don't you bring _all _of your teammates – including that weird, caged girl."

"Ah~! Don't you dare call the Holy Iron Maiden a _weird, caged girl_!" Marco yelled out from his seat to Hao defensively. Hao simply chuckled.

"Are you… are you mocking us?" Venstar cried out, pulling out his gun, "You think we'll fail in our righteous goal?"

With those words, Meene and Kevin pulled out their guns and aimed them at Hao as well. They pulled the triggers with a click, and the three Holy angels came out at Hao. But the young boy simply laughed.

"Are you joking?" He asked. And with a flick of his hand, the Spirit of Fire appeared next to Hao. In the blink of an eye, it had pierced through Meene, leaving her dead and bloody.

"One down… Two to go." Hao said, with insanity reflecting in his usually soft, brown eyes.

* * *

><p>Kairi's eyes widened at the sight of her ex-comrade <strong>(AN: Or should I say "x-comrade? XD)** dead.

Non…_ That can't be_! Kairi thought. Sure, she wasn't in the X-Laws anymore, but Meene was one of the friendliest people there. Both to her, and to Lyserg. In fact, all of the X-Laws were her friends… except for Marco, perhaps. And honestly, the sight of seeing _anyone_ dead sickened Kairi. It was just too gruesome to think about. Kairi's eyes flickered over to the X-Laws who weren't participating in this fight. Lyserg looked ready to cry, but he kept his eyes glued onto the fight. _Most probably because of Marco,_ Kairi thought. The other X-Laws looked fine – in fact, it seemed like that death didn't bother them at all! Well… except for Jeanne. For all Kairi knew, she could be crying her eyes out inside of that iron cage, and no one would know.

The remaining two X-Laws in the ring seemed fine, though. Or… not fine, depending on how you look at it. They didn't seem to be dazzled by their comrades death at all! Venstar stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, Gabriel (Meene's angel) was gone before Spirit of Fire even appeared." He said aloud.

"Then Spirit of Fire can integrate at super fast speed?" Kevin asked.

"That hasn't been confirmed yet." Venstar said.

"We need to find out its medium, first." Kevin said, walking forward. "I'll go next. Hao said it himself."

* * *

><p>"Are they insane?" Ryu yelled. "They just lost a comrade! How can they be so calm?"<p>

"Yeah, even Yoh wouldn't be like this in their situation!" Chocolove said. Yoh glared at Chocolove.

"Not funny." He said.

"That wasn't _supposed_ to be a joke." He pouted.

"Why do they not care about her death?" HoroHoro said softly. His eyes were glued onto the scene in terror.

Images flashed before Kairi's eyes. She closed them, perhaps to see the images better, or to look away from Meene's bloody corpse. She remembered every moment of her X-Law life, and how everything was drilled into her. _Hao is the enemy. We must do everything in order to get rid of him. We will stop at nothing. He is the evil demon, _Marco's voice echoed in her mind. She opened her shaking eyes.

"Because… they need to get rid of Hao… and they won't stop, even if it means that they have to sacrifice themselves." She said softly, her voice trembling.

Suddenly, the Spirit of Fire struck down Kevin.

_Ah! We've missed out so much of the fight! Meene was… struck down just a while before, and now… now… now Kevin, too?_ Kairi thought in despair.

His body fell to the ground, where Hao took no thought to burn him. The X-Law screamed out in pain, before burning down to nothing but ashes.

That was it. Kairi couldn't take it anymore. She felt something rise up in her stomach, so she pressed her hands to her mouth. The French girl jumped out of her seat and ran outside of the ring, into a grassy area. She fell down to her knees and threw up, hot tears dripping down into the foul-smelling vomit.

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><p><strong>And that's it! ...For today! See you guys soon!<strong>

**And thank you _very_ much for "favorite-ing" my story and for the reviews! I really appreciate it! ^_^**


	22. Mana Values

**Hello! Sorry, this chapter is kind of short. But in the next chapter, things will get interesting. In fact, around half of this chapter is different from both the manga and the anime! Just 'cause I don't want to have the same ending as the manga/anime.**

**And yay! I uploaded a cover picture! Sorry for the bad quality, though. I'll scan it when I get home, but for now, I just took a picture. Oh well, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Argh! I still can't believe that Hao is Yoh's <em>brother<em>!" HoroHoro exclaimed, almost angrily.

Team The Ren were walking down the beach. Ren, of course, was a few meters in front of the rest of his group, stomping away silently.

"Well, they _do_ look alike." Kairi pointed out, "it shouldn't be so hard for you to believe it. And they have the same creepy calm-ness and such."

HoroHoro scowled, "You, " he cried out, pointing at Kairi, "why didn't you figure this out? Why didn't you uncover the truth and tell us?"

Kairi frowned, but stayed silent. True, she _could _have figured out the secret of the twins. Hadn't she sided with the X-Laws before? Wasn't their goal to defeat and kill Hao_ Asakura_? Why _hadn't_ she figured it out? Looking back, it's a very simple fact.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! _ The French girl scolded herself silently. She could have done something, at least to inform her friends.

* * *

><p>~Around half an hour ago~<p>

"Hao… he is my twin brother." Yoh said calmly, even though this was breaking news. But then again, when _wasn't_ this kid calm?

Every single one of Yoh's friends heard this – the entire team of Funbari Onsen, The Ren, Anna, Manta and Delphie, and probably a few shamans strolling around near them. Not that they cared, anyway. No one said anything for a while, they just stared at Yoh wide-eyed, most probably still processing what the brunette just said.

"Aha!" Kairi exclaimed after a while, pounding her fist into her open palm, "_That's _why you guys have the same last name!"

Everyone stared at the white-haired girl blankly for a few moments. Finally, Ren sighed angrily (which is possible to do, in Ren's case).

"You knew that they had the same last name?" He asked, just to confirm it.

Kairi nodded. "Of course! I was with the X-Laws. Hao _Asakura_ was our arch-enemy, remember?" she said, hating to talk this much.

"And you didn't stop to think that Yoh might be related to Hao?" HoroHoro asked, once again, just to confirm the previous statements.

"Well… I'm not from Japan. I thought it might have been a common last name. In France, some people have the same last name, but aren't related at all." She said, trying to create an excuse. In fact, she _hadn't_ thought about through about their names. She was much too busy trying to please her comrades. And not one of them bothered to tell her that Hao had a twin brother!

_I wonder if Lyserg knew that…_ she thought.

"But… you couldn't put the fact that they have the same last name together with the fact that they look freakishly similar?" HoroHoro pressed on.

Kairi simply averted her eyes. She _didn't_ notice that those two facts fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces. Yoh cleared his throat slightly.

"Heh… it's not Kairi's fault. I wouldn't have noticed it if the roles were switched." Yoh said, not necessarily consoling the girl. Ren and HoroHoro rolled their eyes.

"I know that!" They said at the same time, before giving each other a suspicious look. Those two hardly ever agreed on anything.

"Well, it's too late now, anyway," Yoh said, "and besides, it wouldn't have made a difference if you guys new about my brother before. The result will still be the same."

"What do you mean… 'the same'?" Ryu asked. Yoh smiled gently.

"Hao is going to win the Shaman Fight. He's too strong for us." He said, once again, calmly.

"Wh-what do you mean? Are you giving up, Yoh?" Manta cried out. Yoh shook his head.

"I'm not giving up. But it's fact – we can't defeat Hao. His mana is by far greater than ours." The brunette said.

"By how much? I mean, if we team up, we can take him on, right?" Chocolove said. Yoh shook his head sadly.

"Well… my mana is 108,000," Yoh said, "and his is 1,250,000. We can't win."

No one said anything for a moment.

"Th-that's impossible!" Manta shrieked, "Even 100 of you, Yoh, wouldn't be able to defeat Hao!"

"I know. And that's why we can't just let the fight continue, so that everyone dies unnecessarily. I have a plan. But we have to team up." Yoh said.

* * *

><p>~Back to the present~<p>

"So… we just have to convince all the X-Laws to team up with us? Gee, that's going to go well." HoroHoro pointed out after he calmed down a bit.

"Yeah… that's what Yoh said, wasn't it?" Chocolove said, "and he's going to go get the other participants."

"Still… I don't think they're going to agree." HoroHoro said. Kairi bit her lip.

"Well, why not? Don't we all have the same goal right now?" she asked, "To defeat Hao, that is."

The four teenagers walked up to the large, X-Laws ship. Chocolove, HoroHoro and Kairi walked right up to the entrance, but the Chinese shaman stopped.

"Ren… are you coming?" Kairi asked. Ren turned around.

"I'm not going anywhere where we're going to beg for help," he said, "especially from _them_." He said. Kairi sighed.

"Come on, Ren, we need you," HoroHoro said reluctantly. Honestly, he surprised himself He never thought he would have said anything like that to _Ren_.

"In the worst case, you can threaten them to join us." Chocolove joked. But Ren just walked away into the woods.

"No. I'm not going," he said, "I'll be in our room when you finish."

And with those words, the stubborn boy disappeared in the dense forest. The trio left behind stared at the spot he just stood in before turning around to face the ship.

"Was he always so stubborn?" Kairi asked. HoroHoro nodded.

"But I think he's just embarrassed to ask for help," Chocolove said, "oh well… that's just the type of person he is."

The three friends took in one more deep breath before Kairi raised her palm and knocked on the door. A moment later, a white-dressed boy opened the door. Lyserg.

Kairi bit her lip, "We need your help." She said.


	23. Agreement and Plans

**Hello! Well, this is chapter 23! Yay! 23 is my favorite number! XD**

**Back on topic... We're getting close to the end of the story, so... yeah.**

**And I guess I can't really see Lyserg saying "kiddo" to anyone, but I had to put it there. I've been playing too much Kingdom Hearts :P *cough*Xigbar*cough***

**Well, enjoy!**

**Oh! And I don't own Shaman King!**

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><p>Marco, Jeanne, Lyserg, John, Porf, and Larch just stared at the three teenagers. Larch cleared his throat.<p>

"Could you repeat that?" He asked. Kairi let out an exasperated sigh.

"Look, we need you to help us defeat Hao," HoroHoro said, "Since there is no chance that we can win."

Of course, the bluenette said all of this through gritted teeth. But they really needed help, and teaming up was their only chance of defeating Yoh's brother.

_Yoh's brother_… HoroHoro thought. He still couldn't believe that his good friend and ally was related to almost every shaman's worst enemy. But it seemed that Yoh had no problem with this. Well, the laid-back brunette hardly ever seemed to mind _anything_ at all.

"Why should we help you?" Marco said, his glasses reflecting the light emitting from the many windows in the X-Laws boat.

"Because we have the same goal, dammit!" HoroHoro shouted. He was losing it. Not only had they explained this a few minutes ago, but also the so-called Angel Group didn't seem to have any intentions of helping them.

Marco frowned at the boy's cuss. "Do not speak like that in front of Lady Jeanne." He said sternly. HoroHoro scowled.

"It's not like she's never heard anything worse! Have you _heard_ what other teams call you guys? What they call _her_?" the blue-haired boy cried.

"Horo!" Kairi said softly, shortening his name, "Calm down. We really need to be on their good side right now."

The boy rolled his eyes. He wasn't pleased at all – but hey, he could at least manage to stay silent, right? It didn't seem _that_ hard. He sat down next to his two comrades and pouted; yet kept a wary eye on the other team.

"So, as we were saying, we think it would do much good if you guys joined us to help defeat Hao. It's the only way to survive." Chocolove said. "What do you think?"

Marco closed his eyes for a moment, and every other X-Law turned his head to Jeanne. Then, the older man did the same.

"I think what they're saying is right," Jeanne said in her soft voice. "From the beginning, we knew that Hao was very strong. And in Meene's, Kevin's and Venstar's last battle, we figured out exactly _how_ strong he is."

Everyone in the room, even HoroHoro, couldn't take their eyes away from the young girl at this moment. She was so… so… so _angelic,_ and it seemed that with even one word, she could get anyone to agree with her.

"We can't take him out by ourselves, that's for sure. Even though the Lord is with us, and our spirits are Angels themselves, the evil is far too great for our justice. However, if we all team up, like they're suggesting, I truly believe we can do this." Jeanne continued. When she finished, she opened her eyes and smiled at the three members of Team the Ren. Marco pushed up his glasses.

"We agree," he said, "we'll help you."

* * *

><p>"Good night, everyone." Yoh yawned.<p>

It had been quite a long day, getting so many allies, after all. Almost everyone who Yoh asked to join them had agreed. The others… well, let's say that they were much too afraid of Hao after hearing what Yoh had to say. Anyways, they had gathered many allies, including the X-Laws, Icemen, Lily Five and quite a few others. Jun, even though Ren deeply disapproved, agreed to fight with them as well, even though she hadn't entered the official fight. It was already late at night, and everyone was getting ready for bed. However, there weren't _quite_ enough beds in the inn, yet Anna _needed_ to make sure that no teams were going to betray them to Hao, so she requested that everyone sleeps in the same "house". And that is how half of the shamans ended up on the large X-Law ship.

"Whoa! Awesome! You guys have _everything_ here!" Millie, the youngest member in team Lily Five, exclaimed. She was all over the place, opening the fridge, jumping on the beds and even flushing the toilets _for fun._

"Ah! Millie, don't touch everything like that! You'll break something!" Ellie, the teenage girl from the same group, said. Unfortunately, she said it half a second too late: the youngest girl clumsily dropped a teacup.

"Oops! I… I didn't mean to!" Millie said, going red in the face. Sharp bits of ceramic were scattered around her feet, dangerously close to causing cuts.

"Don't worry about it." A sudden voice said softly. Millie and Ellie turned around, facing none other than Lyserg Diethel. The green haired boy kneeled down and started sweeping the broken teacup pieces into a dustpan. The clumsy young girl grew red in the face.

"…Lyserg…" She said softly, finding no other words to say. Lyserg finished sweeping up the pieces, and stood up.  
>"Be careful next time, okay, kiddo?" he said, ruffling the girl's hair before walking away.<p>

"Okay… I will…" Millie said, not taking her eyes off of his figure until he disappeared from her sight.

* * *

><p>Team the Ren were lying in their beds. HoroHoro had fallen asleep long ago, and he was busily snoring away. Ren and Chocolove, however, couldn't fall asleep. Perhaps it was because of the loud noises coming from HoroHoro (which couldn't be silenced at any cost), or maybe it was something else. Something like the missing presence of one member of the group.<p>

_She's probably back with her old 'friends', _Ren thought, _She'll be back._

* * *

><p>"Okay, guys, you all know the plan." Anna said. "You'd better not mess this up."<p>

It was early morning – probably even _too_ early to call it morning – and everyone was standing in a line, facing Anna and Yoh.

"We have three healers, Faust, Jun and Jeanne," the girl said, motioning in their direction (Jeanne, of course, was in the Iron Maiden), "but only come to them when you're near death. We can't waste their powers like that."

Everyone nodded, most of them because it was still too early to think, while others understood this completely.

"Hao is going to be in the orchard alone, like he usually is. John, Porf and Larch, you guys will take on Luchist and Opacho, if she's there. Team Icemen, you'll take on the Hana-Gumi, which shouldn't be a problem. And Lily Five, along with Mikihisa, you'll attack Team Tsuki-Gumi. Everyone else will fight Hao." Anna said simply. Everyone nodded, although some were excited, while others were practically paralyzed with fear.

"Well then… Let's go!" Yoh smiled.

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><p><strong>Well, thanks for reading!<strong>


	24. The Heat of Battle

**Hello everybody, I'm back!**

**And yes, I do plan on finishing this story (there are only a couple of chapters to go).**

**Well, enjoy, and sorry for the late-ness (I haven't updated almost all year, have I?)**

**And remember, I don't own Shaman King - just Kairi!**

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><p><em>Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum!<em>

HoroHoro closed his eyes, listening to the rapid pounding of his heart. The time had come to face Hao. He looked over at his teammates. Chocolove was staring ahead quite confidently, although his lips were pressed into a tight, thin line. Ren was… well, himself. He seemed quite confident, his usual scowl etched onto his face. Kairi hadn't said a single word today, but the bluenette was well used to this already. But… something about Kairi seemed different today. She looked… shorter? HoroHoro shook his head. _She's probably just scared_.

"Let's try a surprise attack." Yoh suggested. The seven shamans had reached the orchard already and spotted Hao. He was sitting down on the radiant green grass, enjoying the soothing sunrays shining down on him. The group hid behind trees and bushes, quite far away from Hao, of course.

"That won't work." Marco snapped, pushing up his glasses. "Have you forgotten that he can read minds? That monster probably knows we're here already."

"You're right," a voice said calmly from behind, "I've found you already, as well."

The group slowly turned around, face to face with Hao. Their eyes widened (Jeanne's as well, even though she was in the Iron Maiden). Yoh managed a chuckle.

"Well, then I suppose we can start the fight now." He said with his usual casual tone, "Right, Amidamaru?"

The glowing spirit-ball appeared next to his young shaman. "I'm ready, Yoh-dono." He said. Yoh smiled as he took out his weapon, and Amidamaru plunged into it willingly. All the other shamans did the same, getting out their ultimate weapons. Of course, the same went to Hao.

He let out a menacing laugh. "You can try to kill me, but you can't succeed!"

Yoh smiled softly, "Don't worry, _nii-san_, we won't kill you."

And then they clashed together. Sword against spirit, angel against spirit, pendulum against spirit – nothing seemed to harm the invincible shaman and his 'weapon'.

HoroHoro ran towards the Spirit of Fire, weapon clutched tightly in his hands. He closed his eyes, willing himself to gain all the strength of the wolves, of his namesake. Defeating him alone was impossible, yet if there was one person less, they would certainly meet a dead end as well.

"Pathetic." Hao mumbled, as his spirit ally swatted HoroHoro away like a fly.

"HoroHoro!" Chocolove cried, as his friend was slammed against a tree. He groaned, but stood up.

"Heh. Reminds me of the time we fought against your dad, Ren." The Ainu said, spitting blood out of his mouth.

"I defeated him that time," the Chinese shaman smirked, "And I'll defeat our enemy this time as well!"

Ren charged at the large enemy, crying out his battle yell. The trees around him shook, whether from the sound or passion, though the enemy continued to be unfazed. Hao was simply seated on top of his spirit, resting with an amused smile as if he was watching a pathetic movie.

"How pitiful." Hao laughed, "You can't even work together! Thinking you can defeat me all by yourself – ha!"

Ren bit his lips angrily. "I _can_ defeat you!" he snarled. Yoh gasped.

"Ren! He's right! We can't defeat him if we just keep on attacking him one by one! We _need_ to work together!" Yoh cried. Alas, he was too late. The Spirit of Fire whacked the Chinese shaman high up into the air, letting out a cry of agony.

Thankfully, as he was falling down, a dark net type of thing appeared, catching Ren before he could hit the ground. He breathed in deeply.

"Thanks, Kairi." He said, regaining his position again. Kairi simply nodded, eyes wide, as if she wasn't expecting the shadow net herself.

Yoh eyed Ren and HoroHoro. They nodded.

"One…" Yoh said, smiling casually, but he got himself into a ready position.

"Two." Ren smirked.

"Three!" HoroHoro cried. The three shamans ran towards the Spirit of Fire. Chocolove, Ryu, Marco and Lyserg followed their lead, unleashing their weapons.

"Please, Risa," Kairi mumbled to the spirit bat, "Help me do this."

She fumbled around with her sash, tying it into three awkward knots before finally Over-Souling with Risa. The knives grew out of the knots, though clumsily, as if the position was a completely new thing, and concentrating her Furyoku onto aiming, the silver-haired girl threw the weapon. It hit the Spirit of Fire square in the chest, but didn't cause much harm alone. No. It was the combined power of the six shamans who hit it at the same time, which caused it to stumble back a few steps, Hao almost losing balance. But other than that, their enemy was unfazed.

"Not bad…" he said. A devilish smirk appeared on his face, and evil glinted in his eyes. He extended his right arm, holding onto his ally with his left, and the Spirit of Fire grunted in return, almost as if he understood his master's plot.

"But not good _enough_." He smirked.

The Spirit of Fire rapidly stretched out its arm, and in the blink of an eye, its fingers were pierced through the Iron Maiden, breaking the chain, and sending it on its side. The doors flapped open, revealing a bloody mess inside.

"One down…" Hao sneered, "Six to go."

_"Kairi!"_


End file.
